By: Nicolette Behm
Roe v. Wade is certainly a hot topic of today’s talking points. “My body, my choice”, You’ll hear the crowds in droves trying to excuse their behavior and project the judgement they feel towards theirselves. But how many people really know the true story?
Legalizing abortion in 1973, the Supreme Court ruling was based on false pretenses from the start.
Norma McCorvey, or better known as Jane Roe, in 1969 found herself pregnant. At the young age of 21, single, drug abuser in Dallas, TX she found herself pregnant with her third child. Her first two children were no longer under her care. First one surrendered to her mother for care and the second was adopted out. The third child she first sought an abortion.Problem was, abortion was illegal in Texas at the time and Norma didn’t have the means to seek help elsewhere. In order to seek help she even started spreading rumors she was gang raped and became pregnant from that. Just one of the many lies in the story.
Norma wasn’t the bad guy here though she was used by two young ambitious lawyers, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee. These two fresh out of law school were looking to make waves. They took Norma out for few drinks and soon had a signed affidavit from her, they could take on the case. Sarah Weddington even came later to say, Norma was just a
“Vehicle for presenting larger issues”, “All Jane Roe did was sign a one page affidavit. She was pregnant and didn’t want to be, that was her total involvement in the case.” (Newsweek, 1985)
Once signed, Norma was completely left out from the case, only her name to be used as the plaintiff. She didn’t even attend a single hearing on the case.
During the trial proceedings Norma gave birth to a baby girl and placed her for adoption. That’s right, the infamous Jane Roe, never even had an abortion. Sarah Weddingtion could have helped her get one yet withheld the information to Norma that she had the means and connections to do so. She couldn’t help her, she needed to use her.
A 3 judge panel court ruled in Weddington and Coffee’s favor, but the decision was immediately appealed by the state and sent on to the Supreme Court. Now this wasn’t the only abortion case at the time, the Supreme Court was also ruling on Doe v. Bolton.
Mary Doe, real name Sandra Cano, found herself in a very similar situation to McCorvey. Young, pregnant with her 4th child. She too became a poster woman for the abortion movement with the help of Margie Pitts Hames. Sandra never wanted an abortion. She had first reached out to Hames to seek custody of her 3 children and divorce her husband at the time. It was later came out that Sandra Cano never signed the documents, they were either forged or she stated Margie Pitts Hames had slipped the paper into other documents to get her signature. Like McCorvey, Cano was left out of the proceedings never to attend a single trial. Once Cano found out her name was being used in court to seek abortion of her baby she fled to Oklahoma to try and save her baby. Justice Harry Blackmun used the three trimester framework to rule on abortions. First trimester, abortions were allowed. Second trimester, allowed for health reasons less restrictions. Third trimester, restricted entirely but with exceptions made for health reasons. Problem though, in the Bolton case Roe had loosely used the term health. These health exceptions covered physical, emotional, psychological, famial, and women’s age – literally anything could be posed as a health exception to excuse the reason for an abortion. Today, America is one of only 7 countries worldwide that allows abortion through all 9 months for any reason.
Blackmun in his ruling said a women’s choice to have an abortion was covered under the supposed “right to privacy.” This comes from another Supreme Court case, Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). That ruling stated, “certain state restrictions on contraception were unconstitutional because there is a right to privacy for married couples that protects their ability to obtain contraception.” This then led to Eisenstadt v. Baird, which extended it unmarried individuals. Leading to Roe v. Wade that states “the right of privacy for individuals to obtains contraception includes the right to abortion. That is the legal foundation for this bizarre law in America.
Justice Blackmun then made a submission “if prenatal “personhood is established” the case for abortion “collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the fourteenth amendment.” This is where the argument “it’s just a clump of cells” comes in. The entire basis for abortion depends on establishing if it is considered a life from conception. They have dehumanized the life just to exploit women over time . They lied and preyed upon poor young women to make their legal standings for the depopulation movement.
Both McCorvey and Cano, never even had an abortion. They went on to become activist AGAINST abortion and fight for the lives of unborn children. They’ve since both passed on so it is up to us to tell their stories and help with McCorvey’s message, “I am dedicated to spending the rest of my life undoing the law that bears my name.” And Cano’s message “I pledge that as long as I have breath, I will strive to see abortion ended in America.”
