Daughter of Roe Vs. Wade Plaintiff Says Mom Would be Devastated by SCOTUS Ruling; Who Was Jane Roe?

The daughter of Jane Roe, the plaintiff, and mother behind the controversial Roe Vs. Wade abortion case, has spoken up amid the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn the ruling on Friday, June 24, 2022.

Melissa Mills, the eldest child of Norma McCorvey, a.k.a Jane Roe, said in an interview that she was devasted by the ruling and believed that her mother would feel the same way had she lived through this monumental time in history. According to the New York Post, Roe died in 2017 at 69 years old due to a heart issue.

Mills also said it's now hard to imagine that Roe's grandchildren will not be able to uphold the rights she fought in court 50 years ago. She said that her mother did not just fight for herself but all women in America.

The Roe vs. Wade ruling in 1973 protected other women regarding decisions about their reproductive health. After the recent overturn, the women lost the federal protection to seek abortion for pregnancies that could kill them, kill their child, or change their lives forever.

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Who Was Jane Roe?

In 1969, Roe was pregnant with her third baby, but she did not want to proceed with the pregnancy. She belonged to the working class and suffered from depression. She believed that she could no longer raise another child; thus, she chose to have an abortion.

Because Roe was living in Dallas, Texas, where laws against abortion were restrictive, her friends said she could make a false claim and say that the baby was a product of rape by a group of Black men. However, Roe could not provide the evidence to support this claim. She also tried to have an illegal abortion, but the said clinic was no longer in business.

Roe was then referred to lawyers Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who represented and won the case for her against the district attorney, Henry Wade. The trial reached the Supreme Court in 1973, and by then, Roe had given birth to the baby she wanted to abort since the case was not yet resolved in court.

Shelley Lyn Thorton Issues Statement

That baby was Shelley Lynn Thornton, who also issued a statement via ABC News to express her concerns about the overturn. She said that the decision to have an abortion is a private and medical choice "between a woman, her family, and her doctor" and that the changes in the ruling take away that fundamental right.

Roe gave up Thorton for adoption soon after her birth. Thorton was unaware of her significance in history in the U.S. legal system until she watched her biological mother talk about her struggles on the "Today" show in 1989.

Thorton once said that she was not pro-life nor pro-choice, but when she had an unplanned pregnancy in her early 20s in 1991, she did not choose abortion.

In 2021, Thorton appeared in public when Joe Prager published the book "The Family Roe: An American Story." She said that while she has met her half-sisters, she never had the chance to meet her biological mother face to face.

However, she and Roe spoke on the phone once, but it was not a pleasant exchange. Thorton was said to have stated that her association with Roe started and ended during her conception, per NBC News.

Related Article: Roe Vs. Wade Overturned: 16 States, DC Will Still Protect Women's Right to Abortion Sans Supreme Court Policy