1. R OE V. W ADE A case that changed America forever.

2. J ANE R OE Pseudonym for Norma McCorvey. McCorvey discovered she was pregnant with her third child in June 1969. A friend encouraged her to go to the police claiming rape for a legal abortion. Never claimed rape, so a legal abortion was not possible. McCorvey was referred to attorney’s Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington. In the end McCorvey had her child before the case was decided.

3. T EXAS A BORTION L AWS 1969 As of June 1969 the only way to attain a legal abortion in McCorvey’s home state of Texas was if the child was a product of rape or incest. Many women would travel to nearby Mexico to attain illegal abortions. These surgeries were often botch and resulted in the woman becoming fertile.

4. R OUND 1: US D ISTRICT C OURT Coffee and Weddington filed suit in US District Court in 1970. The defendant in the case was Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, he represented the state of Texas.

5. R OUND 2: T HE US S UPREME C OURT Arguments started on December 13 th, 1971. The decision was made on January 22 nd, 1973 backed by the ninth and fourteenth amendments to the US constitution.

6. A NATOMY OF THE D ECISION In the end it is now legal for a woman to have an abortion within the first trimester of her pregnancy. This was decided after the judges consulted with doctors on the viability of the unborn child.

7. W HERE ARE THEY NOW ? McCorvey is now pro life, and she had the child she planned to terminate. Weddington went on to be a member of the Texas House of Representatives, later she taught at the Texas Woman’s University. Coffee went onto practice law in Dallas mainly handling bankruptcy cases.