The definitive book on Roe v. Wade by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

Perhaps no other court case in history has been discussed as much as Roe v. Wade. Now, for the first time, Before Roe v. Wade presents the most important documents concerning the case, collected in a single volume, in order to shed light on what this infamous case has come to mean in our society.

In this ground breaking book, Linda Greenhouse, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered the Supreme Court for 30 years for The New York Times, and Reva Siegel, a Yale law professor, collect the most significant briefs that were presented to the Supreme Court, as well as important documents from the period leading up to the decision, and from the immediate aftermath. The book gives readers a better understanding of the context in which the Court decided the case, who the lawyers were presenting the briefs, and what their arguments focused on. The material collected for this book will reveal that the story of Roe v. Wade is more multi-dimensional than is commonly understood today.