The baby that was at the center of Roe v. Wade has officially identified herself in a public interview with ABC News.
Shelley Lynn Thornton was the daughter of Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) who sued Henry Wade the Dallas County District Attorney because she was prevented of getting an abortion in the State of Texas.
Well now since Shelley has gone public, she has let the world know what her stance on abortion is and has stated “My association with Roe, started and ended because I was conceived”.
She also stated that when she was pregnant at the age of 20 her partner passed around the idea of getting an abortion but Shelley ultimately decided to give birth to her baby and now has a total of three children and is happily married.
'Roe' Baby to Give First TV Interview to ABC News Since Being Revealed As Baby in Landmark SCOTUS Case https://t.co/MtQeJI18LC
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) October 1, 2021
‘Roe baby’ Shelley Lynn Thornton to give first TV interviewhttps://t.co/BAOetUUcTK
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 2, 2021
Fox News had more on the story:
Shelley Lynn Thornton, the woman identified as the baby at the center of the lawsuit that led to the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision, which legalized abortion across the country, will give first television interview after her identity was revealed last month.
Thornton is the daughter of Norma McCorvey, who sued in 1970 under the name “Jane Roe” alleging that Texas’ abortion laws were unconstitutional. The case eventually was taken up by the Supreme Court — which ruled in favor of McCorvey and decided that women had a constitutional right to an abortion. It has proved to be one of the most significant and controversial rulings in Supreme Court history.
However, by the time that ruling was handed down, Thornton had been born and given up for adoption by McCorvey.
While McCorvey’s identity was revealed a few years after the court case, Thornton’s was unknown until an Atlantic article revealed her identity last month.
“My association with Roe,” she said, according to the outlet, “started and ended because I was conceived.”
Thornton will give her first television interview on ABC News on Monday night.
'Roe baby' Shelley Lynn Thornton, 51, is to give her first EVER television interview https://t.co/xe8ztRuG5J
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) October 3, 2021
The Daily Mail covered the story too:
The woman whose mother’s wish to abort her became the landmark Roe v Wade case has agreed to give her first ever television interview.
Shelley Lynn Thornton, 51, was born in Texas before her mother, Norma McCorvey, won the right to an abortion.
McCorvey, who died in 2017 at age 69, gave her baby daughter up for adoption as soon as she was born,in June 1970.
McCorvey would win the case at the Supreme Court on January 22, 1973.
Thornton’s story was first told in The Atlantic last month and, on Monday, she will speak for the first time on ABC News.
In a short clip of Monday’s episode, released on Friday, Thornton seemed to remain mum when asked how it feels to be the baby that paved the way for America to legalize abortion nationwide.
Norma McCorvey(Jane Roe) originally stated she was ganged raped but in 1987 she took back that statement and went on to say she got pregnant by a man she thought she was in love with.
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