Weddington’s death comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the most serious challenge the the landmark abortion rights case in years.
Dallas
Abortion rights pioneer Sarah Weddington, who argued Roe vs. Wade before the Supreme Court, died Sunday in Austin. She was 76. Known for being the youngest person to argue at the Supreme Court at the age of 26 in one of the most controversial cases of the high court’s history — Roe vs. Wade.
Attorney Susan Hays, a Democratic attorney running for Texas agriculture commissioner who is a former student of Weddington, confirmed the news in a Twitter string. Her death is reported to have happened in Austin, where she lived.
Sarah Weddington died this morning after a series of health issues. With Linda Coffee she filed the first case of her legal career, Roe v. Wade, fresh out of law school. She was my professor at UT, the best writing instructor I ever had, and a great mentor. 1/
— Susan Hays (@hays4ag) December 26, 2021
Weddington, a pivotal figure in reproductive rights public policy and an inspiration for many feminists, told Texas Monthly in a 2003 interview that “I am sure when my obituary is written, the lead paragraph will be about Roe v. Wade. I thought, over a period of time, that the right of a woman to make a decision about what she would do in a particular pregnancy would be accepted — that by this time, the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the controversy over abortion would have gradually faded away like the closing scenes of a movie and we could go on to other issues. I was wrong.”
Raised in West Texas, Weddington was born in Abilene on Feb 5, 1945. Her father was a Methodist minister and her mother a teacher. Weddington earned her law degree at the University of Texas Law School, at a time where there were few women attending law school, she was among 40 women in a class of 1,600 students.
When the court handed down its 7-2 decision on Jan. 22, 1973, abortion became legal in the United States. Weddington became a heroine to some and a villain to others. And abortion became a permanent, fiery fixture in American politics. At age 26, she was youngest person to argue at the Supreme Court.
Weddington’s death comes as the Supreme Court considers the most serious challenge the the landmark abortion rights case in years. A Mississippi abortion case before the high court will be ruled upon next year.
Read more at https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/12/26/roe-vs-wade-lawyer-sarah-weddington-passes-away/
