1946-
Woman Lawyer and Abortion Rights Activist

Roe v. Wade.

When the Supreme Court ruled on 22 January 1973 that state abortion laws must be changed to allow women the choice of legal, safe abortion, no one was more surprised than Sarah Weddington. A longtime Texas advocate for woman's rights, Weddington, along with her associate Linda Coffee, had never tried a case before Roe. When they won their class-action suit against the State of Texas, the Texas Attorney General appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The case was virtually unprecedented, and some observers believed the novelty of the issue, as well as Weddington's inexperience, were behind the Court's unusual request to hear arguments in the case twice. Weddington nonetheless convinced the Court of the merit of her case, and Roe v. Wade became the most sweeping — and controversial — Supreme Court decision since Brown v. Board...