Federal appeals panel to consider challenge of Roe vs. Wade

Published: 2004-02-25

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, has decided not to hear oral arguments in a case brought by the original "Jane Roe" seeking to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that removed most state restrictions on abortion. The full court originally had set oral arguments for March 2 but the panel said they would consider only the 5,347 pages of affidavits submitted earlier in the case. Norma McCorvey of Dallas, who in 1980 revealed that she was the "Jane Roe" of the case and has since become a strong opponent of abortion, said in her affidavit that Roe vs. Wade "was wrongfully decided and has caused great harm to the women and children of our nation." McCorvey, who is now 56 and who became a Catholic a few years ago, did not have an abortion at the time of the Roe case, but gave birth and gave the child up for adoption. However, she sought the right to have an abortion and that is what led to the case. More than 1,000 women filed affidavits in connection with the new case, saying that they had been harmed psychologically and physically by abortions.

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