Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” whose search for a legal abortion led to Roe v. Wade — famously changed her mind about abortion rights. She flipped from being a pro-choice activist in her 30s to a pro-life activist and born-again Christian in her 40’s.
McCorvey led a complex, sometimes tragic life. She suffered physical abuse and struggled with poverty and depression. She also had a habit of telling lies in public, including a false claim of rape and exaggerations about her political views.
Privately, however, McCorvey was more consistent about her views of abortion rights, as Joshua Prager documents in his recent book — full of revelations — that serves as a dual biography of McCorvey and Roe v. Wade. She was part of what she called “the mushy middle.” Prager writes:
‘Who Norma wanted to be was gay and pro-choice — but only moderately pro-choice. Norma no more absolutely opposed Roe than she’d ever absolutely supported it … Norma thus reflected the majoritarian middle ground. She embodied the national ambivalence, the desire for legal yet limited abortion’.
Most Americans believe that abortion should generally be legal early in pregnancies and restricted later. Public opinion has barely moved in decades and is similar across women and men.
But even if public opinion is stable, abortion policy may be on the verge of major change. The Supreme Court will soon hear two abortion cases — one from Texas, with arguments set for next week; and one from Mississippi, with arguments on Dec. 1. Given the court’s conservative majority, many observers expect it to either overturn Roe or weaken it, freeing states to enact tight abortion restrictions.
Texas has been at the center of abortion politics for more than half a century. McCorvey lived in the Dallas area when she sought an abortion in 1969. In response to her lawsuit, a federal court in Texas overturned the state’s abortion law, citing the right to privacy and leading to the landmark Supreme Court case in 1973.
This year, Texas enacted the country’s most restrictive abortion law, outlawing all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court has let the law stand but also agreed to hear arguments about it.
Researchers at Gallup were recently asked whether they could put together a portrait of public opinion on abortion in Texas. To do so with a large enough sample size, they combined multiple Gallup surveys from the past decade. (That would be a problem on an issue with changing opinions, like marijuana legalization or same-sex marriage, but it’s not a problem with abortion.)
Results are fascinating. Most Texans are part of that “mushy middle,” saying that abortion should be legal in certain circumstances.
Supreme Court justices like to claim that they are simply enforcing constitutional law, but history has shown they are often influenced by public opinion. If they do so again in this case, the polling offers a different, more nuanced picture than many state laws.
