October 1972 - October 11, 1972 (Wednesday)

October 11, 1972 (Wednesday)

• The case of Roe v. Wade was reargued before the United States Supreme Court, after having first been argued on December 13, 1971, before seven Justices. While the initial opinion by Justice Harry Blackmun had simply found the challenged laws against abortion to be "unconstitutionally vague", the revised 1973 Blackmun opinion went further in declaring most restrictions against the right of choice to be unconstitutitional. "Had the Blackmun first drafts in the abortion cases come down as the final decisions", notes one commentator, "American life and politics might have been quite different."
• The World Hockey Association opened its first season in Ottawa, as the Alberta Oilers defeated the Ottawa Nationals, 7–4, before a crowd of 5,006 and a Canadian national television audience. Ron Anderson of the Oilers scored the first WHA goal. The last WHA goal would be scored in 1979 by Dave Semenko of the Edmonton Oilers. The other WHA game of the night was in Ohio, where the Cleveland Crusaders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 2–0.
• Born: Claudia Black, Australian actress, in Sydney