Norma McCorvey
Posted on 06/16/2003 10:33:40 PM PDT by 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:
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.
"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.
I was 19 and pregnant by my live-in boyfriend, 10 years older than me. He said he would leave if I kept the baby. I felt my body transforming, my tummy getting round, my breasts changing. Planned Parenthood, the only place I knew to go, said, "Your pregnancy test is positive, but 'positive' is all in your perspective, isn't it?" They figured I was 8 weeks pregnant, but later said I was further along than what they had guessed. They assured me it was just a blob of tissue, confirming what I had been taught in health class at school. I wanted to have children, and I was assured by the counselors that I could always have a baby later, when I was 'ready' for one. I chose abortion knowing nothing of what it was other than a way to keep my boyfriend. He brought me to the abortion clinic and paid for the abortion.
One year later I had to have an ovary and fallopian tube removed because of a cyst "the size of a baby's head," according to the doctor. It had formed around "pieces of hair, like eyebrows, and skin." A year after that I became pregnant again. Because of the scar tissue left behind by the abortion and subsequent cyst, my baby was trapped in my one remaining fallopian tube. I had married the boyfriend by this time, but he still didn't want the baby. Without knowing this pregnancy was 'eptopic' I decided to carry to term, despite my husband's objections. The doctor didn't diagnose the problem until 10 weeks into the pregnancy, when I was in the emergency room puking my guts out. The baby had to be removed to save my life.
I am now completely sterile.
Don't think this will reach the Supremes for another year or two.
Remember, God's timing is perfect.
He's always been pro-life....and is well respected in our county, where he lives, when he's not in Washington.
Having worked in a Crisis Pregancy Center, I've witnessed too many stories similar to yours.....
I hope you have found peace in your life and know God's love and forgiveness.
I disagree. That would give the Left a rallying point, and would bring many of the unmotivated and undecideds to their side. Let them stay complacent, and just outlaw partial-birth abortion for now. Then overturn Roe, and leave it to each state to make the decision (as it should be!). Odds are, at least half would keep some form of abortion viable. Any woman in the country who really wants one, will still be able to get one, although she might have to drive across state lines to do so.
Incomplete sentence.
Should read:
"Abortion outlawed. Court overturns right to choose sexual irresponsibility over the dignity and sanctity of human life."
There. That's better. :)
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