WASHINGTON, January 18, 2005 - Norma McCorvey, the former "Jane Roe" whose case first legalized abortion on demand 32 years ago, today announced she is formally asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take her case and to reverse Roe v. Wade, or at least, order a trial on the merits. McCorvey's case cites the sworn testimony of more than 1,000 women hurt by abortion.
"This is the day I've longed for," said McCorvey, who deeply regrets her role in legalizing abortion. "Now we know so much more, and I plead with the Court tolisten to the witnesses and re-evaluate Roe v. Wade. It was a dreadful day in America when the Supreme Court allowed a woman to kill her own child.
"With each child aborted, there is another tragedy: the harm to the mother," McCorvey said. "I've worked in abortion facilities, and I've seen firsthand the horrific nature of abortion and its devastation to women and girls."
Allan Parker, president of The Justice Foundation, and lead attorney on the case, said much has changed since the high court's 1973 ruling.
"We're asking the Court to find, based on the changed legal and factual conditions, that it would be a grave injustice to continue Roe v. Wade," Parker said.
The Foundation filed a petition for writ of certiorari on January 14, 2005, which reached the Court today, January 18, asking the Supreme Court to hear the case. It was first filed in a district court in Dallas in June 2003. Federal rules allow an original party to request a ruling be vacated when factual and legal changes make the decision no longer just. A legal summary and other documents can be viewed at www.alarryross.com or at www.operationoutcry.org.
HT: Pajamahadin
