'Roe' of 'Roe v. Wade' Joins Case to Block Abortions

Written by Jeff Johnson

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) — More than 700 women – including Norma McCorvey, the "Roe" of Roe v. Wade – are expected to join a "friend of the court" brief in a case filed for consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court Monday. The lawsuit claims women are not provided with enough information by abortion clinics to give truly informed consent to the procedure and that some are even forced or tricked into having abortions against their will.

"It is unjust and immoral to force or mislead any woman into having an abortion," McCorvey said. "I am honored to stand with these women who have been hurt by abortion.

"Their lives have been severely disrupted and injured by not having all the facts, by being lied to, by being pressured or forced into having an abortion they did not want," she continued.

Friend of the Court Brief

More than a dozen of the 700 women joined McCorvey at the National Press Club Monday to announce that they will file an Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) brief in support of the petition for certiorari for the Supreme Court to hear the case of Donna Santa Marie (a fictional name for a real person), et al, vs. James McGreevy, et al.

The lawsuit originated in 1999 when New Jersey state courts blocked wrongful death lawsuits by three women against the doctors who had performed abortions on their unborn children.

"Santa Marie" was 15 years old when she became pregnant by a man she planned to marry, who wanted to and was reportedly able to support Santa Marie and her child. Despite this, her parents took her to an abortion clinic, which refused to perform the procedure when she told the doctor that she was being pressured to have the abortion.

Her parents then allegedly took her to another clinic, after telling her that she could not marry the father of her child and that he would be prosecuted for statutory rape if she did not allow the abortion to proceed. Her pregnancy was then ended against her will.

Attorney Allan Parker, founder of the San Antonio-based Justice Foundation, represents McCorvey and the more than 700 women supporting the Santa Marie case.

"When they sued for the wrongful death of their children, which was done without voluntary and informed consent, the courts of New Jersey said, 'You do not get a cause of action for wrongful death, the child is worth nothing because of Roe v. Wade , and you are presumed to have consented (to the abortion)," Parker explained.

The Justice Foundation also represents Sandra Cano, the "Doe" of Doe v. Bolton ," the Roe v. Wade companion case that broadly defined "health" of the pregnant woman to include emotional, educational, familial, and financial difficulties unrelated to the woman's physical health, thereby legalizing abortion on demand during all nine months of pregnancy.

"I am in great sympathy with Donna Santa Marie because, like her, it was others who wanted me to have an abortion, not me," Cano wrote in a statement given to reporters. "They tried to force me to have an abortion.

"I was able to avoid the abortion," Cano added, "but my case…has been used to force many women into abortions they did not want."

Abortion-Related Scars

Tammy Ruttkofsky of Adrian, Michigan, shared a story similar to that of Cano, Santa Marie and the other plaintiffs in the New Jersey case. When she was 17 years old, Ruttkofsky was taken to have an abortion against her will by a parent.

"I was told the procedure was very simple with minimal pain, and it would be over in a matter of minutes with nothing to worry about later," she recalled. "I was never told there would be any physical, mental, or emotional risks attached to an abortion.

"Never was I shown any fetal development pictures," Ruttkofsky added. "I was told only that my baby was '…just a blob of tissue.'"

Though she objected to the doctor when he began preparing her for the procedure, Ruttkofsky claims she was referred only to the parent who was ordering her to end the pregnancy.

"I felt like a frightened, trapped animal in desperation, not knowing what to do or who might help me to carry my baby to term," she said.

When the doctor actually began to perform the abortion, Ruttkofsky again told the doctor she did not want an abortion and physically resisted because of the pain.

"It took several nurses to hold me down, only to tell me I needed to be quiet so as not to disturb others in the hall," she alleged.

'Oh, look, twins!'

Like Ruttkofsky, Rebecca Porter of Plant City, Florida, "wanted to be dead" after her abortion experience. She alleges that she, too, was physically restrained when she tried to stop an abortion doctor from ending her children's lives.

"He started the procedure, the suction started, and within a few minutes, the nurse looked over at the doctor and she said, 'Oh, look; twins!'" Porter recalled. "I went hysterical. I tried to get up off the table. I was screaming, 'No! No! Stop! Stop!'

As she was being restrained, Porter alleged, the doctor told her that the "rest of the tissue" had to be removed to eliminate the risk of infection, a claim she now believes was false.

"So I just laid there, crying, while they sucked the other baby out of my body," she recalled.

Several of the women present at the press conference relayed details of multiple miscarriages, infertility, uterine complications, and other health problems they attribute to their abortions. Many also described problems bonding with children they have given birth to or adopted since their abortion experience.

While the women hope Roe v. Wade will be overturned as a result of their efforts, they say they also want those considering abortion to have a realistic understanding of the potential consequences of that decision.

Susan Renne Mosley of Caladonia, Mississippi, has had four miscarriages, which she blamed on an earlier abortion, and numerous surgeries to repair her uterus. She has also had part of one breast removed because of a lump, she said, further evidence of the purported link between abortion and breast cancer.

'Abortion more violating than rape'

But Mosley compares her abortion experience to what many women would consider the most horrible thing that could happen to any woman. "I can say that, as a woman who has struggled not just with that but, after conceiving out of rape and giving birth to a son," Mosley said, "I felt more violated in abortion than I did in rape."

Calls to the National Abortion Federation, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and NARAL: Pro-Choice America (formerly that National Abortion Rights Action League) seeking comment for this article were not returned.

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