abortion – Now I've Heard Everything

Reproductive rights have never been a more volatile and divisive issue than they are right now.

After the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade decision many states have enacted, or restored, strict anti-abortion laws. It’s become a major campaign issue in the 2024 presidential contest.

And much of this was forecast nearly 20 years ago by Kate Michelman, the longtime head of NARAL, the pro-choice organization founded by feminist icon Betty Friedan.

Michelman retired from NARAL in 2004, and two years later published a memoir, called With Liberty and Justice For All.I had the chance to speak with her when she was on a book tour.

So here now, from 2006, Kate Michelman.

Kate Michelman is now 82. NARAL is now known as Reproductive Freedom for All.

In 1969, a young Texas woman sought a legal abortion. But when she was unable to obtain one, she turned to two young lawyers for help.

Those lawyers took Norma NcCorve’s case to court, and eventually to the United States Supreme Court.

Along the way, Norma NcCorvey became known in the court papers as “Jane Roe.” Henry Wade was the local prosecutor she was suing, so the case became known as Roe v Wade.

And on January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in her favor, effectively legalizing abortion across the U.S.

I met Norma McCorvey in 1994, when she wrote a book called “I Am Roe.”

So here now, from 1994, Norma McCorvey.

Norma McCorvey died in 2017. She was 69.

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