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Norma McCorvey, the woman whose 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case helped make abortion legal in the United States, today petitioned to overturn the historic Roe v. Wade decision. Known for years as just Jane Roe, McCorvey (pictured right) filed the below affidavit in support of a motion in U.S. District Court in Dallas. McCorvey, 55, stated that the landmark case "was built upon false assumptions" and had "caused great harm to the women and children of our nation." McCorvey, who has been stridently pro-life for nearly 10 years, noted that when she filed her original lawsuit 30 years ago, she was unsure of what the term "abortion" even meant. "I had heard the word 'abort' when John Wayne was flying his plane and ordered the others to 'Abort the mission,'" she writes. In petitioning the court to re-open and overturn the case, McCorvey and her attorneys have submitted affidavits from 1000 women who say that they, too, regret their abortions.

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Originally posted by Mr. Magoo:
I think it usually results from a "finding God" or finding spirituality moment. Remember when notorious sadist and serial killer Ted Bundy became an outspoken opponent of porn? Not a lot of credibility, IMHO, but great for making political hay with.

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"Finding God" or finding a great big bag of cash courtesy one of heavy-hitters on the religious right? After all, what better person to come out against abortion than the person who's case made it legal in the first place.

[ 18 June 2003: Message edited by: black_dog ]

Its actually been "news" before - just not quite this big. But in the big picture, while she's a lovely symbol for the anti-choicers/anti-abortionists (just like the kid whose mother was it lead the fight to have school prayer outlawed in the US - he's all for school prayer now), ultimately it doesn't matter what she thinks - she was just the agent, because the courts need relevance, a specific case to deal with, but the decision is far larger than her.

I'm sorry she regrets having an abortion. I'm sorry if she feels she was manipulated (and I'm guessing the whole "I didn't know what an abortion was" statement is meant to enforce the anti-choicers "informed consent" campaign of "you're evil, you're killing a baby, you're going to hell - that's what abortion is you selfish bitch"). I don't think life has always been kind to her, and its probably very difficult to become a symbol. But I find it horrifying that anyone would use that as an excuse to deny other women the right to make a choice on their own. I regret many things I've done in my life - free will isn't always pretty, but I'm guessing that she would also regret having carried the child to term as well, at least for big parts of her life (especially a states vie to punish and hurt single mothers and their children through punishing, inadequate welfare programs with humiliating requirements).

I don't agree with abortion being used simply as birth control when other options would have been betterbut cases like that are only a small percentage. The majority of women who opt for abortion are for some reason in no position to be able to consider another alternative as viable. Some adoptions are good, some aren't. Some children never get adopted and stay under the care of the "State" for life, frequently suffering badly because of it. Pregnancy itself complicates a woman's life in many ways that men don't even understand and certainly effects her financially. Whatever her reasons, a woman shouldn't have to try to explain them to people who have no capacity to understand.

As far as Roe is concerned, when you look back on the history it will show that she certainly appeared to understand all of what she was doing at the time. People's thoughts and ideas change through the years and very few have never said "if I only knew then what I know now".

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McCorvey was a 21-year-old carnival barker when, pregnant for the third time, she sought an abortion. She agreed to be the plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to overturn Texas' anti-abortion statute.

The Supreme Court decision came after she had the baby. It was the third child she put up for adoption. McCorvey publicly identified herself as Jane Roe in 1980.

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Someone I was reading recently suggested that pro-choice factions should get women who don't regret their abortions to send in letters, pamphlets, photos, whatever. Norma McCorvey may have a thousand women around her who regret their abortions, but I bet there are millions of other women who don't.

I don't see how the fact that some women regret their abortions is relevant here, unless it's the vast majority of women, which I don't think it is. A hell of a lot of people regret their marriages; does that mean we should outlaw marriage?

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Out of curiosity, anyone here seen "Citizen Ruth," with Laura Dern and Burt Reynolds? About a woman in a similar situation to Jane Roe, which mercilessly skewers both sides of the debate (best moment - Burt getting oiled up by the young boy he travels with). And now onto the topic at hand...

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* a google search on "Roe v Wade" brings up about 106,000 hits;

* the site www.roevwade.org is an anti-abortion site.

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June 20, 2003 | DALLAS (AP) -- A federal district court dismissed a request by the one-time plaintiff known as "Jane Roe" to reconsider the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion 30 years ago.

The court said late Thursday that Norma McCorvey's request wasn't made within a "reasonable time" after the 1973 judgment in Roe v. Wade.

McCorvey, who joined the anti-abortion fight 10 years ago, filed the "motion for relief from judgment" Tuesday, asking the court to reopen the case and conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into scientific and anecdotal evidence that she says shows abortion hurts women.

"Whether or not the Supreme Court was infallible, its Roe decision was certainly final in this litigation," Judge David Godbey wrote in the ruling. "It is simply too late now, thirty years after the fact, for McCorvey to revisit that judgment."

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Though I had never had one, abortion was the sun around which my life orbited.

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Norma admits.

Reporter: President Bush, what is your position on Roe versus Wade.

Dubya: Well, that all depends. How deep is the water?