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The conflicted life of the woman at the centre of Roe v Wade

By Joshua Prager
New York Times·
7 mins to read

Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe at the centre of Roe v Wade, was an imperfect plaintiff.

When she undertook Roe as a young single woman in Dallas, she gave no thought to the fight for reproductive rights. She was barely getting by as a waitress, had twice given birth to children placed for adoption, and simply wanted an abortion. She later lied about how she got pregnant, saying that she had been raped. When, more than a decade later, she

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