3.9 Amendments: Due Process and the Right to Privacy

The right to privacy is not explicitly stated in the Constitution. However, the due process clause is used to protect the privacy of citizens from the powers of the state. This can be thought of as the implicit right to privacy because it is implied but is not plainly expressed.

In the 1965 court case of Griswold v Connecticut, the court ruled that the first, third, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendment contained the implicit right to privacy. 

The right to privacy is a highly debated topic.

An example of this is the court case of Roe v. Wade (1973). In this court case, a Texas woman tried to have an abortion but wasn’t allowed to because the state of Texas forbade the practice, except in the case of incest or rape. Dallas County was sued after the birth of the child. The court ruled that the abortion was protected by the implicit right of privacy established in Griswold v. Connecticut.

The ideas of pro-life and pro-choice are still highly debated today.