Court dismisses McCorvey's request to reopen Roe v. Wade By LISA FALKENBERG (Associated Press Writer) The Associated Press Web Posted : 06/20/2003 10:55 AM
A federal district court has dismissed a request by the former plaintiff known as "Jane Roe" to reconsider the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion 30 years ago.
Norma McCorvey, who joined the anti-abortion fight 10 years ago, filed the "motion for relief from judgment" Tuesday, asking the court to reopen Roe v. Wade and conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into scientific and anecdotal evidence she says shows abortion hurts women.
The court dismissed McCorvey's request late Thursday, saying it wasn't made within a "reasonable time" after the 1973 judgment.
"Whether or not the Supreme Court was infallible, its Roe decision was certainly final in this litigation," Judge David Godbey wrote in the ruling. "It is simply too late now, thirty years after the fact, for McCorvey to revisit that judgment."
A spokeswoman for the Texas Justice Foundation, which is representing McCorvey, did not immediately return a message for comment.
Sarah Weddington, the abortion rights activist and attorney who originally represented McCorvey, said she was delighted, but not surprised McCorvey's request was dismissed.
"It never should have been filed," Weddington said Friday morning. "Those who filed it got publicity but the publicity actually has been very helpful for those of us who believe the government should not be involved."
Weddington said that since McCorvey's motion was announced earlier this week in a press conference, she has received about two dozen e-mails from people offering to help defend the Roe v. Wade decision.
Federal law allows litigants to petition the court to reopen cases in extraordinary situations, but such requests must be made weeks or months after the judgment, not decades, Godbey wrote.
McCorvey and her attorneys asked the federal court to consider more than 5,400 pages of evidence, including 1,000 affidavits from women who regret their abortions, in re-evaluating the Supreme Court's decision.
The Supreme Court decision came after McCorvey had the baby. It was the third child McCorvey put up for adoption; she was a 21-year-old carnival worker at the time.
McCorvey publicly identified herself as Jane Roe in 1980. After converting to Catholicism, she shocked the abortion rights community in 1995 by joining the group Operation Rescue.
06/20/2003
