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Five Facts About Norma McCorvey of Roe vs. Wade You Probably Didn’t Know
lifenews.com ^ | 1/20/15 | Joe Carter

Posted on 01/20/2015 9:26:10 PM PST by Morgana

This month is the forty-second anniversary of the legal decision, Roe v. Wade, in which the Supreme Court eliminated the abortion laws of all 50 states. Here are five facts about the plaintiff behind the case that transformed America:

1. “Jane Roe” was the legal pseudonym for Norma McCorvey the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade. McCorvey filed court documents against Henry WADE, the district attorney of Dallas County from 1951 to 1987, who enforced a Texas law that prohibited abortion, except to save a woman’s life.

2. In 1969, McCorvey was 22 years old, divorced, homeless, and pregnant for the third time (she had placed her first two children for adoption). An adoption agency connected her with two young lawyers fresh out of law school who were eager to challenge the Texas statutes on abortion. McCorvey only met with her lawyers twice-once for beer and pizza, the other time to sign an affidavit (which she didn’t read). In order to speed things up McCorvey lied and told them she had been raped. She never appeared in court, and she found out about the infamous ruling from the newspapers. The baby she was seeking to abort was born and placed for adoption.

3. When McCorvey met her lawyers she didn’t know the meaning of “abortion.” Her lawyers told her that abortion just dealt with a piece of tissue, and that it was like passing a period rather than the termination of a distinct, living, and whole human organism. Abortion was a taboo topic in 1970, and Norma had dropped out of school at the age of 14. She knew that John Wayne movies talked about “aborting the mission,” so she thought it meant to “go back”—as in, going back to not being pregnant. She honestly believed “abortion” meant a child was prevented from coming into existence.

4. In the late-1990s, McCorvey was working at a Dallas abortion clinic when the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue moved its offices next door. She says Rev. Phillip Benham, Operation Rescue’s national director, started “sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ” with her. She later became a Catholic and committed pro-life advocate.

5. In February 2005, McCorvey petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 decision with McCorvey v. Hill, arguing that she had standing to do so as one of the original litigants and that the case should be heard once again in light of what she claimed was evidence that the procedure harms women. The courts, however, denied her petition.


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: abortion; janeroe; normamccorvey; prolife

1 posted on 01/20/2015 9:26:10 PM PST by Morgana
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To: Morgana
1969 .. on the right

Didn't even know what abortion was at the time


2 posted on 01/20/2015 9:35:11 PM PST by knarf
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To: knarf

That’s a hard 22 years old.


3 posted on 01/20/2015 9:48:16 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: dr_lew

If that’s Norma McCorvey on the right at age 22, how come she’s standing next to Holly Hunter circa 1991?


4 posted on 01/20/2015 9:51:02 PM PST by boop (I never use the words democrats and republicans. I use liberals and Americans.)
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To: knarf

That looks like Holly Hunter on the left, who played one of her attorneys in the TV movie.


5 posted on 01/20/2015 9:51:03 PM PST by bootless ("If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth."~RWR)
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To: dr_lew
worse ... someone actually jumped it.

Not even laz ....

6 posted on 01/20/2015 9:51:44 PM PST by knarf
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To: bootless
there was a movie ?

I like Holly .... uh ... I'd like to ...

ne'er mind

7 posted on 01/20/2015 9:52:52 PM PST by knarf
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To: knarf

she looked pretty bad for only 22


8 posted on 01/20/2015 9:59:39 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Morgana

Wasn’t the District Attorney, Henry Wade, the guy in the white hat when Oswald was shot?


9 posted on 01/20/2015 9:59:59 PM PST by bubbacluck (America 180)
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To: knarf

That picture was taken in 1989 when Holly Hunter made a TV movie about Roe Vs Wade. McCorvey would have been 44 in that picture.


10 posted on 01/20/2015 10:01:05 PM PST by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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To: boop

OK, 1991-1969+22 = 44 is more like it.


11 posted on 01/20/2015 10:04:52 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: CaptainK

the photo was attributed to 69 ... I’ll look further ... I apologise for the eye pain


12 posted on 01/20/2015 10:24:48 PM PST by knarf
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To: Morgana

Millions of innocent lives sacrificed for the convenience of some dirtbag whore.

Justify that when the time comes.


13 posted on 01/21/2015 4:48:47 AM PST by Arm_Bears (Rope. Tree. Politician. Some assembly required.)
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To: Morgana; NYer; Salvation

Ping.

I knew that she became a Catholic and has supported the pro life movement, but not some of the other facts.

Does anyone have the story about how she was taught and converted and became a Catholic? I hope someone tells that story.

Says a lot about the integrity of attorneys and our justice system.


14 posted on 01/21/2015 5:44:51 AM PST by ADSUM
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