Imagine being a 17-year-old girl who has just become pregnant... following rape. Do you really think that this minor, who has already experienced so much trauma, would want to have her rapist's child? Pregnancy is one of the most exciting things that can happen to a woman, but that excitement can be wiped out if the baby wasn't planned. A woman should have the right to choose whether or not she wants to keep her baby. This is what Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun believed in Roe v. Wade, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the underlying restrictive state regulations on abortion were unconstitutional. Harry A. Blackmun was one of the court's most liberal justices who argued and won Roe v. Wade because of his passion for his own beliefs and personal upbringing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay McCorvey was born on November 12, 1908, in Nashville, Illinois. He had a younger sister born in 1917 and a brother who died at a young age. Blackmun grew up in Dayton's Bluff, a neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from Harvard University in 1929 with a degree in mathematics. At Harvard, Blackmun joined a fraternity and sang with the Harvard Glee Club. In Glee Club, he performed for President Herbert Hoover, which was Blackmun's first visit to Washington. He attended Harvard Law School and received a bachelor's degree in law in 1932. He held various positions, including private attorney, jurist, and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and at William Mitchell College of Law. Blackmun practiced as an attorney with the law firm now known as Dorsey & Whitney, which in its early years focused on tax, trusts and estates, and civil litigation. He married Dorothy Clark in 1941 and had three daughters, Nancy, Sally and Susan. Before going into law, Blackmun wanted to become a doctor. From 1950 to 1959, motivated by his initial passion for medicine, Blackmun served as a resident attorney at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He would later describe his time at Mayo as "his happiest time". He pursued law because he wanted a “stable career.” His time at the clinic attracted the attention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to replace Sanborn's seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 1959. The eight circuits included states such as Arkansas, Nebraska and Missouri. That's why it made sense that Blackmun started with a conservative perspective on the field. His views on the court ranged from taxation to discrimination of citizens and prisoners. It was clear from his rulings in court that he wanted to tinker with the main law of the land: the constitution. On April 14, 1970, Blackmun was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Nixon. His nomination was unanimously approved. Since Blackmun was new, he was quiet at first about his opinions as he tried to make himself heard. He often voted in accordance with Chief Justice Burger's opinion. As time passed at court, he began to become more liberal in his beliefs. As Blackmun became more independent, his friendship with Chief Justice Burger fell apart. Both were formerly called the Minnesota Twins; but ultimately, Blackmun became frustrated with Burger Court's management style. While other members of the court focused more on the hypothesis, Blackmun's view on the.