Nearly three decades after the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide, the original plaintiff in the landmark Roe vs. Wade case is urging a federal court to reconsider the 1973 Supreme Court decision.
“My case was wrongfully decided and has caused great harm to the women and children of our nation,” said Norma McCorvey, better known as “Jane Roe,” who had a change of heart about abortion in the years after the Supreme Court ruling.
McCorvey and Sandra Cano (of the Roe companion case Doe vs. Bolton) filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a class action lawsuit May 31 in the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals, CNSNews.com reported June 1.
The two want their respective cases overturned so that the class action suit against abortion providers can proceed.
Both women are represented by the Texas Justice Foundation, a San Antonio-based public interest law firm. Their brief states their cases were improperly applied by the lower court in dismissing the class action suit, which is now on appeal to the Third Circuit.
Abortion law expert Michal Scaperlanda of the University of Oklahoma College of Law said whatever the legal merits of the case, the court of public opinion may be more important for the time being.
“You’re fighting this battle on two fronts: the courts and public opinion,” Scaperlanda said.
The court probably will not give weight to the fact that Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano have filed amicus briefs, Scaperlanda said. “But it is a value added, and that is whether the court pays attention to tit and the extent that the media pays attention.” (BP)
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