Fifty-one years ago this week, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protected a person’s right to choose to have an abortion.
This happened after a woman under the pseudonym "Jane Roe,” who was later revealed to be Norma McCorvey, got pregnant with her third child in 1969. At the time, abortion was illegal in her home state of Texas, aside from the “life of mother” exception. At 21, she had a physically abusive husband. After dropping out of high school, she bounced around from unstable service jobs. Since she couldn’t get an abortion, she sought out the help of an adoption lawyer. This led her to being approached by other lawyers who were specifically looking to find a case that would challenge widespread abortions bans in the United States.
