Word: weddington
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...young Texas lawyer named Sarah Weddington was searching for a despondent woman to become a symbol of the drive for abortion rights when she met McCorvey, who was facing a second unwanted pregnancy. The case which became Roe v. Wade originated in 1970 when Weddington was able to convince McCorvey, then an unwed and impoverished woman who was unable to obtain a legal abortion, to file suit demanding the right to an abortion. Pushed by Weddington and her colleagues, McCorvey took the case directly to Federal courts, so that they could challenge the constitutionality of all states' abortion laws...
McCorvey's lawyers ultimately proved to be more passionate about this decision than she. In the three years which ensued before the final Supreme Court decision, Weddington was able to create a case which led to the extension of the privacy rights of the 14th Amendment to include abortion rights. Ironically, the woman who became known as Jane Roe did not even end up taking advantage of these new rights by having an abortion. Instead, she gave her child up for adoption...
...Sarah Weddington was quick to tell the media this week that the recent actions of the woman who became known as Jane Roe are inconsequential, having become far removed from the ultimate significance of the case. She emphasizes the case was a class action decision, insuring the protection of abortion rights for a country of women clamoring for change in which McCorvey was simply a random representative. As a result, Weddington attests that whatever McCorvey decides in her personal, professional and political life does not reflect the views of most women who have benefited from the ruling, and should...