'Jane Roe' seeks to overturn abortion law
( 2003-06-18 11:00) (Agencies)
The woman once known as "Jane Roe" whose case led to the legalization of
abortion in the United States 30 years ago filed a new court challenge on
Tuesday in a bid to overturn the landmark Supreme Court decision.
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Norma McCorvey, who
went by the name Jane Roe in the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling but later
joined the anti-abortion movement, is pictured at a pro-life convention in
Chicago in this January 17, 1998 file photo.
[Reuters] | Norma McCorvey, who went by the name Jane Roe in the landmark Roe v. Wade
ruling but later joined the anti-abortion movement, filed a motion in Dallas
federal court claiming changes in the law and advances in medicine had rendered
the court's original decision unjust.
At a Dallas rally, she told supporters she regretted her part in the
original lawsuit.
"I want to thank all the wonderful women that are standing here. I'm so
sorry that I filed that affidavit," McCorvey said.
"I long for the day that justice will be done and the burden from all
these deaths will be removed from my shoulders," she said in a separate
statement.
Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt said the case was not viewed as
a threat to abortion rights.
"We don't expect the court to take it seriously. And the reason is
because it was a good decision," she told Reuters. "Roe v. Wade enabled women to
participate in the social, financial and political life of this country."
The move is the latest challenge to U.S. abortion rights and comes after
the House of Representatives and the Senate each approved a ban on a procedure
critics call "partial birth" abortion. Minor differences in the two versions
remain to be worked out before the legislation goes to the White House.
The ban, supported by President Bush, would be the first time a specific
abortion procedure has been criminalized since the 1973 Supreme Court decision.
In Tuesday's motion, written by a Texas-based conservative legal group
called the Justice Foundation, McCorvey said Roe v. Wade was decided on false
assumptions and that no meaningful trial was held to determine the facts.
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