Opinion: Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade fame, is among antiabortion protesters tossed at Sotomayor hearing

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One of the antiabortion protesters tossed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor today was none other than Norma McCorvey, the Texas woman whose pregnancy led to the court’s landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported earlier this evening.

At least three times during Monday’s hearing, antiabortion protesters interrupted the proceedings by yelling. Each time, they were quicky escorted out of the hearing room.

Abortion is not expected to be a focus of senators’ questions Tuesday, and Sotomayor’s feelings about the issue are not well known. In her only known ruling on an abortion-related issue, she upheld a ban on federal money going to foreign groups that provide abortion services -- the so-called Mexico City rule.

As for McCorvey, after she lent her name to the case that had an immediate and drastic effect on the choices available to pregnant women, she had a change of heart, and has campaigned against Roe vs. Wade.

Earlier in the day outside the Hart Senate Office Building, she told the Journal Sentinel, ‘I’m here to overturn Roe and defeat Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. She’s unworthy of the position. She’s Catholic. She’s even unworthy of taking communion because of her pro-abortion stance.’

The Supreme Court’s decision in Roe vs. Wade came too late to affect McCorvey’s 1970 pregnancy. By the time justices ruled 7 to 2 in her favor, she had long since given birth.

-- Robin Abcarian

AP file photo of Norma McCorvey from 1995 by Nick Ut

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