Were there any serious attempts at amending the constitution to provide abortion rights? Additionally, what about federal laws makaing abortion legal?
There were, of course, a number of court decisions prior to Roe overturning abortion laws. But at the time, abortion was a matter of state law, so most of the legislative efforts dealt with state abortion law reform.
No, it had always been considered a state issue. The movement to loosen early-term abortion restrictions had been successful in about 18 states by 1973. As the text of Roe v. Wade noted, “The precise status of criminal abortion laws (at the time of writing) in some States is made unclear by recent decisions in state and federal courts striking down existing state laws, in whole or in part.”
Congress has no power to override state laws making abortion illegal. Roe v. Wade held that the Constitution itself forbade such state laws, which is a very different matter. In addition, I know of no evidence of a pro-choice majority in Congress in the 1960’s. Congress had allowed abortion to remain illegal in the District of Columbia.