'Roe' files to overturn high-court ruling

WorldNetDaily ^ | June 17, 2003 | Art Moore

[scripter]

The woman known as "Roe" in the historic Supreme Court case that legalized abortion is filing a motion in federal court today to overturn the 1973 decision.

The Roe v. Wade ruling should be set aside because of changes in law and new research that make the prior decision "no longer just," argues Allan E. Parker, Jr., lead attorney for the San Antonio, Texas-based Justice Foundation.

Norma McCorvey

Parker is representing the former "Jane Roe," Norma McCorvey, who has the right to petition for reopening the case because she was party to the original litigation.

McCorvey announced in 1995 she had become a Christian and now has a pro-life ministry called Roe No More.

"I long for the day that justice will be done and the burden from all of these deaths will be removed from my shoulders," McCorvey said in a statement. "I want to do everything in my power to help women and their children. The issue is justice for women, justice for the unborn, and justice for what is right."

McCorvey will ask for a reversal of the judgment today at the Dallas federal court.

In an interview with WorldNetDaily two years ago, McCorvey said she was "used" by pro-abortion attorneys in their quest to legalize the procedure.

Seeking an abortion at the age of 21, McCorvey made up a story that she had been raped. She was put in touch with two attorneys who aimed to challenge the Texas abortion statute.

"Plain and simple, I was used," she said. "I was a nobody to them. They only needed a pregnant woman to use for their case, and that is it. They cared, not about me, but only about legalizing abortion. Even after the case, I was never respected – probably because I was not an Ivy League-educated, liberal feminist like they were."

New evidence

Parker notes the Supreme Court has overturned its own precedents, citing the 1997 Agostini v. Felton decision in which the high court used a post-judgment motion by a party to overturn two 12-year-old precedents.

The legal question in the case, he said, is, "Is it just to continue giving Roe v. Wade future application?"

He asserts three major arguments for reopening and overturning the case:

• The Roe v. Wade decision deprived women of protection from dangerous abortions and exposed them to a much greater risk of being pressured into unwanted abortions. Studies, he says, indicate between 30 and 60 percent of abortions result from the pregnant woman submitting to pressure from her male partner, parents, physicians or others.

  Parker will present affidavits from more than 1,000 women who testify having an abortion has had devastating emotional, physical and psychological effects. This is 1,000 times more evidence than presented in the original case, he says. Also, new scientific evidence indicates abortion is associated with more physical and psychological complications for women than were known about in 1973. In contrast, there have been no scientific studies measuring any significant benefits abortion has produced in women's lives.

• While the question, "When does life begin?" was treated as an unanswered philosophical question in 1973, "an explosion of scientific evidence on human life" since then "conclusively answers the question that life begins at conception," Parker argues.

• Under a 1999 law, Texas provides for any woman's unwanted child from birth to 18 years of age with no questions asked, which means women should no longer be forced to dispose of "unwanted" children by ending a human life, insists Parker. Forty states have similar "Baby Moses" laws.

"The result of granting the motion would be to set aside and annul Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, its companion case," Parker explained. "This would return the issue of protecting women and children to the people with Baby Moses laws serving as a safety net."

Parker and McCorvey will appear at a press conference in Dallas today along with women who will testify of abortion's harmful effects in their lives.

Ominous warning

Meanwhile, a leading abortion-rights group, NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, has launched a $3 million ad campaign to warn of a day when the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade.

The group says the campaign coincides with recent passage of the partial-birth abortion ban by Congress and potential retirements by Supreme Court justices.

"Together these spots serve as a stark reminder of what could happen if we don't stop this tidal wave of anti-choice activity that is emanating right out of our own White House," said NARAL Pro-Choice America President Kate Michelman in a statement.

NARAL television ad

One 15-second television commercial opens with ominous music and a woman who looks in horror at a newspaper headline that reads: "Abortion outlawed, Court overturns right to choose."

The ads have begun airing on cable channels but will be shown on broadcast stations in three key states in two weeks. Iowa, Wisconsin and Oregon were chosen because they were narrowly decided in the 2000 presidential election.

During the 2000 presidential election campaign, then-President Bill Clinton said he expected Roe v. Wade to be overturned if George W. Bush won.

"If Gov. Bush gets elected, he'll appoint judges more like the ones appointed by the ... Reagan and Bush administrations," Clinton said in a National Public Radio interview. "And if they get two to four appointments on the Supreme Court, I think Roe v. Wade will be repealed."

Speculation has arisen in the last several years about departures by Rehnquist, 78, Sandra Day O'Connor, 73, and John Paul Stevens, 83.

Rehnquist has been the focus of most of the attention. But his recent decisions to hire staff for the court's next annual term, beginning in the fall, and to schedule an important hearing Sept. 8 suggest he will not be leaving soon.

[cgk]

God Bless you for sharing this with us. I'm seeing more and more women speak out against abortion, and what it has done to them. I hope you can find peace in God. As I pray for every woman who has come to the realization that she was lied to. And as I pray for every woman who was lied to, to find that realization, as painful as it will be.

I am signing the affadavit for operation outcry. Women who have had abortions and regret them are the strongest forces in this.

The tide is turning...

[stands2reason]

Women who have had abortions and regret them are the strongest forces in this.

And the children born post-Roe/Wade who realise how lucky they are to be alive.

[Bonaparte]

If you acknowledge that privacy is a "right," not a "privelege"...

I do not acknowledge that privacy per se is a constitutional right.

[cgk]

You're absolutely right. Thank you for expanding that.

My oldest daughter is one of them. She knows (though not who) that I was counseled to abort her, as in kill her. She's a survivor of Roe v Wade...

[Charlie OK]

I thank God every day I made it out alive ('77). Thank God my parents wouldnt do such a thing, as I was a "surprise" and had some potential problems during my time in the womb. Many other women in my moms situation probably wouldve aborted me.

Norma is going to be on Hannity and Colmes tonight. This one is a cant-miss for me!

[gulfcoast6]

THIS ought to give NOW hearburn for sure.

[mvpel]

[mvpel]

You'll note that in my reply I was responding to Syriacus' claim that my recounting of the situation in Romania under Ceaucescu was an orange in an apple bin - because that ruthless dictator banned contraception as well as abortion - when the Griswold case was about a ban on contraception right here in the good old USA.

Nowhere did I suggest that abortion is a form of contraception. Please peruse the reply thread for the context.

[JustPiper]

Oops, being from the Roe generation, this subject is taboo for me (hiding) ;)

[anniegetyourgun]

Thanks for the ping, .30c. I still marvel at your forthright testimony and pray that it will be an influence on many who might otherwise make the worst 'choice' of their lives. I also pray that your story will convict the hearts of many men who have participated in this horror and carry the secret sin within them.

[RobbyS]

For some people, abortion IS a means of birth control. My daughter was talking to a colleague in here office who had had three abortions but still wants to have children later. I may be wrong, but the rate of multiple abortions in the USA is higher than the rate of single abortions in Sweden. Too many Americans don't like the discipline required to use contraceptives.

[gcruse]

Roe sues to overturn Roe v Wade.

That has to be the biggest "Never mind," in jurisprudence.

[MHGinTN]

Sadly, there are not 42,000,000 'do overs'.

[tallhappy]

"Abortion outlawed, Court overturns right to choose."

Then should be shown scores and scores of smiling happy babies.

The joy of life is so incredibly apparent in babies.

[Thanatos]

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas has posted the Documents for this case:

Jane Roe v. Henry Wade

Doc# DOCUMENT TITLE AND NUMBER OF PAGES RULE 60 MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT (06/17/2003) 20 pp.

BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF RULE 60 MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT (06/17/2003) 55 pp.

Norma McCorvey's Affidavit is located here: Norma McCorvey Affidavit

[skr]

"She's a survivor of Roe v Wade..."

As are you, praise God!

[goldilucky]

Yes, that sounds about right.

[MHGinTN]

That's because they've been so recently in His closer presence. [Kind of like the Shakinah glow on Mose's face just off the mountain.

[goldilucky]

It's my understanding that when a Plaintiff signs an affidavit, like Norma, under penalty of perjury, and that the claims made are true to the best of their knowledge, they are willing to testify to that in court.


I am familiar with Judicial Watch.