Meet Jane Roe.

In late 1969 Norma McCorvey, twenty-one and single, found herself with an unwanted pregnancy. She worked as a waitress in a bar; previously she had worked with a traveling circus selling tickets. She already had a five-year-old daughter for whom she could not afford to care. McCorvey's mother had taken custody of her daughter. She had little money and nowhere to go. McCorvey's father was unable to provide for both Norma and her future child. She did not think she was in any condition to care for another child. She wanted an abortion. In Texas she could have one only if her life was endangered by a pregnancy, which it was not.

Coffee and Weddington.

McCorvey met Linda Coffee, a young attorney concerned about feminist issues. Coffee spoke on women's rights around Dallas, where she lived. She was active in...