UPDATED - Norma McCorvey, 'Jane Roe' of Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, dies at 69

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post

By Washington Post Staff February 18 at 12:26 PM

When she filed suit in 1970, McCorvey was not looking for a sweeping ruling for all women but simply the right to legally and safely end a pregnancy that she did not wish to carry forward. The Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 in 1973 that the constitutional right to privacy includes the choice to terminate a pregnancy. McCorvey later became a born-again Christian and a poster child for antiabortion activists.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/18/norma-mccorvey-jane-roe-of-roe-v-wade-decision-that-legalized-abortion-dies-at-69/?pushid=breaking-news_1487438780&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.332e475b6926

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UPDATE:

Norma McCorvey, who was 22, unwed, mired in addiction and poverty, and desperate for a way out of an unwanted pregnancy when she became Jane Roe, the pseudonymous plaintiff of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that established a constitutional right to an abortion, died Feb. 18 at an assisted-living facility in Katy, Tex. She was 69.

Her death was confirmed by Joshua Prager, a journalist currently at work on a book about Roe v. Wade. The cause was a heart ailment.

Ms. McCorvey was a complicated protagonist in a legal case that became a touchstone in the culture wars, celebrated by champions as an affirmation of women’s freedom and denounced by opponents as the legalization of murder of the unborn.

When she filed suit in 1970, she was looking not for a sweeping ruling for all women from the highest court in the land, but rather, simply, the right to legally and safely end a pregnancy that she did not wish to carry forward. In her home state of Texas, as in most other states, abortion was prohibited except when the mother’s life was at stake.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/norma-mccorvey-jane-roe-of-roe-v-wade-decision-legalizing-abortion-dies-at-69/2017/02/18/24b83108-396e-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html?utm_term=.5b47d32d59f0

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Was just about to post

[2naSalit]

2. ...

[Hortensis]

5. She was very young and obviously very limited

intellectually, educationally and altruistically, and extremely lacking in sophistication and personal power. She is a person, though, and looking back at what started this she had a viewpoint. Of course, if what she really wanted was just the address of a reliable abortionist, she did make a mistake trusting these attorneys as much as she did.

“Sarah sat right across the table from me at Columbo’s pizza parlor, and I didn’t know until two years ago that she had had an abortion herself,” Ms. McCorvey told the New York Times in 1994. “When I told her then how desperately I needed one, she could have told me where to go for it. But she wouldn’t because she needed me to be pregnant for her case.”

“Sarah saw these cuts on my wrists, my swollen eyes from crying,” she continued, “the miserable person sitting across from her, and she knew she had a patsy. She knew I wouldn’t go outside of the realm of her and Linda. I was too scared. It was one of the most hideous times of my life.”

Not the brightest bulb and years later still seeing it mainly in terms of herself, and her very real suffering then and for years to come, not seeing or caring to see what the attorneys did--one desperate woman among ultimately millions of victims. But those attorneys of course knew all this, and what they were putting her in for.

They should have represented someone who believed in legalized abortion--and was willing to sacrifice herself to make it happen.

[Maeve]

11. Real life is often much messier than the history books would have it

Not defending the choice the attorneys made--they saw a case at the right time, in the right place and ran with it, for better or worse. I've known many women since then who were in equally bad places but were helped because the law was changed by Roe v Wade. I've also know ones who were scarred by the pre-Roe days, so I'm a bit biased.
I'm sorry she had a rough time and hope she is at peace.

[Hortensis]

12. Exactly. I don't defend or contemn them for using her.

Just wish, for her sake, that this Jane Doe could have been a Rosa Parks.

[uppityperson]

10. You are bashing a scared, poor, 22 yr old for seeking a way out of her problem, and not

seeking to help all women at a very stressful time of her life?

[MicaelS]

14. What a thoroughly nasty post. n/t

[Rustyeye77]

4. Wow... historic person.

RIP

[yallerdawg]

6. Before and after... and what they want to take away.

“I don’t require that much in my life,” Ms. McCorvey told the Times in 1994. “I just never had the privilege to go into an abortion clinic, lay down and have an abortion. That’s the only thing I never had.”

Every one of us can make a difference in each others lives. Ms. McCorvey did just that.

[tenorly]

7. It's unfortunate the holy rollers got to her in later years. What she accomplished still stands tho.

Godspeed.

[Daemonaquila]

8. For once, it wasn't the good dying young.

Given her reversal and anti-abortion stance, good riddance. She can't be trotted out any more by anti-choice propagandists.

[TexasBushwhacker]

13. She decided she wasn't a lesbian anymore too

She was with her partner, Connie Gonzales, for over 20 years. She was a lost soul.

[starshine00]

15. yes I think she has all the earmarks of borderline personality disorder

Textbook; fragile, undefined identity is one of them. However, I find her take on things pretty predictable at least as shown by this article. She probably endured sexual abuse as a child and then there was thephysical abuse from her probably also borderline mother. Had abortion been legal, she would have had one and that would have been the end of it. She probably would have become remorseful later in life, as she did, just without the status of being Roe. I've had several friends have similar experiences...I myself am very relieved I have never had one because I too feel it would have haunted me later on. But that only extends to me and I certainly would not try to affect the rights of any one else.

With her Catholic background especially it is not surprising she went back and forth on the issue of abortion...that kind of indoctrination is very hard to kick unless you have a strong sense of self, which she never did; catholicism is particularly successful in cementing lifelong beliefs about abortion and sexuality. I have to admire her insistence on speaking her truth at each juncture in her life about her feelings that she had been 'used' by one faction or another. Gloria Allred's quote is particularly revealing. This was a very complicated human being, and I don't feel it is right to demonize her.

[Daemonaquila]

16. Your right, your choice.

Trump, Cheney, and Schlafley were also complicated human beings. They're also assh***s. All assh***s are complicated human beings. But being assh***s I have no pity for them as they are also horrible human beings. You be all understanding. I'll do a little dance.

[starshine00]

17. tell me what her crimes are that merit that comparison

she had mental health issues. all she wanted was an abortion. instead she felt like she was made a pawn. she has a right to express herself. no harm, no foul.

[TexasBushwhacker]

19. Alcoholic, abusive mother

and she was sent to live with her mother's cousin when she was a teenager. He raped her for 3 years. Her mother didn't believe her.

[starshine00]

20. oh my god

sigh..tragedy all around. Maybe she is in a better place now. I'm not convinced, as pro-lifers are, that the gods feel about abortion the way they do. I think essentially what is at play is the fact that males of this ilk cannot conceive that their monolith God would give such an executive decision to females, which clearly, he DID do. Period.

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. Well, she never got an abortion

She continued the pregnancy and gave the baby up for adoption. Actually all three of her children were given up for adoption. She did work for an abortion clinic for a while though. Being a Catholic, I'm sure she felt forgiven for her sins.

[starshine00]

22. it seems as though she never had a bit of peace in this life

which is common for BPD. I wonder if there has ever been any interviews with Melissa the daughter who came about as a product of the long fight for the amendment

[TexasBushwhacker]

23. Melissa was her first child, the Roe child was her 3rd

Her mother forced her to give Melissa up for adoption.

Yes, I can see how she ended up with BPD. She probably just felt that people use people.

[starshine00]

24. thanks for the correction

the chapter in Freakonomics on abortion speaks for itself. I just refer people to that. Any little soul that gets sent back up to heaven and into the body of God is lucky. The reason the church so opposes abortion in particular is that factions of the church believe an unbaptized child cannot enter heaven. This has NOTHING to do with the true Gods and how they feel about the souls of children sent back to God. it is man interfering in God's business for the sake of empire, breeding women like cattle and politicizing spirituality and they will pay dearly for it in the end.

[TexasBushwhacker]

25. Well, in the case of Catholics, it's all about growing the church

They found out pretty quickly in Louisiana that one way they could grow their flock was to allow interracial marriage. So LA had a gumbo of Europeans and Africans, with different degrees of mixing (quadroons, octoroons etc). There was also the mixing of Europeans and indigenous Americans in Latin America, producing mestizos. But they were all welcome in the Catholic church (as long as they had lots of babies).

[uppityperson]

9. K&R for important history

[mopinko]

18. rly? she might not have been looking for a sweeping change,

but her lawyers were, and i'm sure she knew it.
trying to remember her story from a movie made about the case. iirc, it was well done and recognized.
they had been looking for the right plaintiff, and latched on. (not in a bad way)
surely she knew the court case was about more than just her.

why do they have to make women's actions in some kind of accident?