Roe alleged that she was unmarried and pregnant; that she wished to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion performed by a competent, licensed physician, under safe clinical conditions. The problem was that she was unable to get a "legal" abortion in Texas because her life did not appear to be threatened by her pregnancy; and that she could not afford to travel to another area in order to secure a legal abortion under safe conditions. She claimed that the Texas laws were unconstitutional and that they terminated her right of personal privacy protected by the Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Roe decided to sue on behalf of her and all other women in the same situation as hers. .
The Georgia case of Doe v. Bolton, involved a married woman who was denied an abortion because she did not meet the necessary state requirements. Georgia law only permitted abortions "if the life or the health of the mother was threatened, if the baby was seriously deformed, or if the pregnancy was a result of rape " ("U.S. Abortion Laws: An overview of the history and legality of abortion in the United States"). A three-judge District Court ruled in favor of Roe's lawsuit and declared Texas abortion law void for being "vague " and "overboard"." .
Concerning the Doe v. Bolton case, the District Court ruling was split and "ruled that there were some unnecessary bureaucratic burdens that might hinder someone from receiving a due abortion, but they still held that the State had a right to restrict abortion according to the principles already in place."(U.S. Abortion Laws: An Overview of the History and Legality of Abortion in the United States). Ironically both the decision from Roe v. Wade and the decision from Doe v. Bolton were appealed and presented before the Supreme Court, with both verdicts being handed down on the same day - January 22, 1973.
Roe ruled (7-2), and in the case it states the unborn are not included within the definition of "person" as used in the 14 amendment and the 14 amendment states "all persons born or naturalized in the US and subject to jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the US and of the state where in they reside.