Norma McCorvey, better known as Jane Roe, the anonymous plaintiff in the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, has died at the age of 69.
The Washington Post reports that McCorvey passed away in an assisted living facility in Katy, Texas due to heart problems – her death was confirmed by journalist Joshua Prager, who was currently working with McCorvey on a book about Roe v. Wade.
McCorvey was 22 years old when she became desperate to end her pregnancy as a poor, unwed woman. At the time when she filed suit in 1970, her home state of Texas was one of many states in which abortion was completely illegal except when saving the life of the mother.
The case turned into one of the most well-known women’s rights-related Supreme Court decisions in history, and established a woman’s right to choose to end a pregnancy with a 7-2 ruling. However, by the time McCorvey’s case was decided, her child, who she’d given up for adoption, was already two years old.
Along with many other reproductive rights issues, Roe v. Wade is still hotly debated, and President Trump has promised to appoint Supreme Court justices during his term that would overturn the ruling.