Roe vs. Wade in Jeopardy

People asking questions lost in confusion,

Well I tell them there's no problem,
Only solutions,...

john lennon

Norma Leah McCorvey was ( Jane Doe ), aka Roe, in the Supreme Court’s landmark abortion rights decision in 1973. In 2005, Ms. McCorvey petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the Ruling; Thirty-two years after the fact. The question begs to be asked, what could possible possess the poster child for Pro-Choice to reverse her position, to flip flop if you will, to actively advocate her new Pro-Life position.

Norma was born in Louisiana of Cajun and Cherokee ancestry and has no recollection of her father during that period of her life. She later relocated and was raised in Houston,Texas by her violently alcoholic mother. Norma dropped out of school at the tender age of 14 years. She would come to marry an abusive husband two years later and ultimately leave this relationship along with her child, a girl Melissa, in 1965. In 1966 she would have another child which was placed for adoption.

Upon Norma’s return to live with her mother, a falling out of sorts left Melissa, Norma's first born, to stay with her Grandmother. By 1969, Norma had migrated to live with her father and once again, became pregnant. After a brief attempt to convince family and authorities she was raped, she unsuccessfully tried to obtain an illegal abortion. At this particular epoch in time, Pro-Choice Attorneys Coffee and Weddington were searching for a case which they could bring to trial. After speaking with Norma the attorney's believed they had found the necessary combination of circumstances to do just that. Such is the birth of the landmark Supreme Court case of Roe V. Wade. Norma gave birth to the baby in 1970 due to strict abortion laws at that time dictated by the individual states.

After three years of lower court trials, the case would be brought before the Supreme Court of the United States. The rest is history. Within days of the decision, she acknowledged to the media her identity of being the pseudonym Jane Roe. She revealed her reasons for wanting the abortion which consisted of Depression and unattainable employable prospects in addition to a dim future.

Circa mid 1980’s, she would assert she had been used as a pawn by the legal team of Coffee and Weddington. Their ulterior motive was to overturn the Texas State Law and U.S. Federal Law of the day, which restricted a woman's right to choose, thereby prohibiting arbitrary abortion.

In the mid 1990’s, McCorvey wrote her autobiography “I am Roe “followed by the sequel “Won by Love” in 1998. These literary works grant insight to her state of confusion. In her words,“I was sitting in O.R.'s offices when I noticed a fetal development poster. The progression was so obvious, the eyes were so sweet. It hurt my heart, just looking at them. I ran outside and finally, it dawned on me. 'Norma', I said to myself, 'They're right’. It's as if blinders just fell off my eyes and I suddenly understood the truth — that's a baby...I had to face up to the awful reality. All those years I was wrong. No more of this first trimester, second trimester, third trimester stuff. Abortion — at any point — was wrong. It was so clear, painfully clear.”^[*Wikipedia]

...And so the saga continues in the year 2011. Conservative State Governors cut off Planned Parenthood, Extreme Right wing Republican Legislators issue guidelines for Abortion clinics that are insurmountable and unattainable. The Judicial branch is left only to scratch its' head pondering precedent. Roe V. wade is the Law of the land, but it appears this is being revisited by the Conservatives of the far right as round two.