Sarah Weddington: The Young Attorney Who Changed the Course of US Reproductive Rights
Ever heard of Sarah Weddington? If you followed the news in the United States in 1973 or know a bit about the landmark legal case in the US that effectively legalized abortion nationwide, you might recognize her name.
To appreciate Sarah Weddington’s important influence, it’s necessary to understand the era in which she first drew attention. Many historians describe the 1970s as a time of global pivotal movements. America was experiencing profound change, filled with scientific, political, and sociological issues. These included the Vietnam War, the 1973 and 1979 oil “crises,” the feminist revolution, major technological advancements, US President Richard Nixon’s resignation, a national rise in crime, the stock market crash of 1973-1974, the birth of hip-hop music, the influences of the hippie movement, and a growing appreciation of environmental issues. Society was forced to look inward, and many felt changes were long overdue.
So where does Sarah Weddington fit in all of this? Weddington was the lawyer who argued the historic case starting in 1970 that came to be known as “Roe v. Wade.”
Weddington was born in Abilene, Texas in 1945, a few months before the end of World War II. She attended McMurry University in her hometown and then studied law at the University of Texas (UT). After graduating with a Doctor of Law degree in 1967, Weddington worked without pay to represent a women’s abortion referral program at UT. As a result of this experience, she and her legal partner Linda Coffee filed “Roe v. Wade” on behalf of a woman named Norma McCorvey (under the pseudonym Jane Roe).
The case took federal action against the district attorney of Dallas county (Texas), Henry Wade. Weddington believed the Texas law banning abortions was vague and violated a woman’s right to privacy.
The case eventually reached the US Supreme Court, but the court did not agree with the Roe position that a woman had an absolute right to terminate a pregnancy whenever and however she chose. Recognizing the implications, though, it attempted to balance the fundamental right to privacy with the state’s interests in protecting the health of pregnant women as well as the “potentiality of human life.” To accomplish this, the court referred to the “trimester” scale of measuring pregnancy development.
In what would become the famous landmark case, Weddington argued twice in front of the Supreme Court before the ruling was issued in January 1973. She built the case for a woman’s right to abortion on two Amendments of the US Constitution: the 9th, that preserves liberties and rights even if not expressly named in the Constitution; and the 14th, that prohibits States from abridging fundamental personal liberties. She contended “that ‘meaningful’ liberty must include the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.” Weddington was the youngest person to win a case before the US Supreme Court.
In 1972, Weddington became the first woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives. There she fought for women’s rights, equal pay, and access to healthcare. She worked to reform rape statutes, “increasing the statute of limitations on reporting rape and preventing the questioning of rape victims about past sexual activity.” During President Jimmy Carter’s administration, in 1977 she was appointed general counsel for the US Department of Agriculture and, in 1978, became the president’s advisor on women’s issues.
Weddington lectured at Texas Woman’s University from 1981 to 1990. She was also adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin from 1986 to 2012, teaching courses on gender-based discrimination and leadership.
Sarah Weddington during a women’s rights rally in Albany, NY, 2013 (Photo: Mike Groll—AP, CC BY 4.0 license)
During her career, Weddington actively supported not just reproductive rights, but policies addressing childcare, workplace discrimination, and educational opportunities for women. She played a pivotal role in advancing gender equality and broader social justice issues in the United States. Her legal career and activism significantly shaped the landscape of women’s rights.
In December 2021, Sarah Weddington died in Austin, Texas. Despite Roe v. Wade being overturned in 2022, Weddington’s legacy includes encouraging broad conversations about gender equity and personal freedoms. As an attorney and law professor, she continually demonstrated how the law could, without political influence, positively affect people’s lives, needs, and futures.
