https://www.washingtonpost.com/archi...=.54672afa3398
'JANE ROE' RECANTS RAPE CLAIM
The woman whose case prompted the landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion says she falsely claimed to have been raped in hopes of winning an exemption from Texas law banning the operation.
The new account by Norma McCorvey, who was called "Jane Roe" in the 1973 abortion case Roe vs. Wade, came during an interview with WUSA-TV here. The station released a partial transcript last night.
"I found out I was pregnant through what I thought was love," McCorvey said. "I told {a doctor} that I wanted an abortion, that I did not want to carry the child for economic reasons."
Despite her claim to have been raped, she was unable to obtain an abortion. McCorvey had the child, which was given up for adoption.
She said she repeated the rape story later because she was "bitter, very bitter," and then allowed two lawyers to take her case to the Supreme Court.
Rape was never an issue in the Supreme Court case, in which the justices declared that women have a constitutional right to abortion on demand. McCorvey's lead lawyer in the case, Sarah Weddington, said the issue of rape had no bearing on the outcome.
McCorvey and Weddington were interviewed for a documentary, "Searching for Justice: Three American Stories," to be broadcast Sunday evening.