Shelly Lynn Thornton, 49 - Troy, MI - Reputation & Contact Details Thornton is the daughter of Norma McCorvey, the woman originally identified in court documents by the pseudonym Jane Roe. She admitted before she died that she made the change in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars. They kept asking me what side I was on, she recalled. She became instead, with the help of McCluskey, the only child of a woman in Dallas named Ruth Schmidt and her eventual husband, Billy Thornton. Ruth named the baby Shelley Lynn. After winning Roe vs Wade, Norma went on to be a face for women's rights before switching to be pro-life years later. She. And thats really hard to grasp when youre in that kind of a situation and youre just kind of like learning all of this stuff.. King Charles' Coronation LIVE: The monarch's unexpected defender from Down Under, Beatrice and Eugenie in Dr Martin Scurr: Why have I always had a runny nose for 30 years - and what can I do to make it stop? Thornton was 18 when she. But he did not identify them, or Norma, or say anything about the Roe lawsuit that Norma had filed three months earlier. Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff in the landmark abortions rights case, gave birth to Shelley Lynn Thornton before the law was changed. I want her to experience this joythe good that it brings, she told me. Filing a complaint alongside her was Texas doctor James Hallford, who argued the law's medical provision was vague and that he was unable to reliably determine which of his patients fell into the allowed category. In a television studio in Manhattan, the Today host Jane Pauley asked Norma why she had decided to look for her. She listened as Hanft began to tell what she knew of her birth mother: that she lived in Texas, that she was in touch with the eldest of her three daughters, and that her name was Norma McCorvey. I think she was taken advantage of by both sides, but I think she also took advantage of both sides, Thornton told ABC News. She and Doug had made plans to marry, and Shelley was due to deliver two months after the wedding date. We've received your submission. Hanft normally telephoned the adoptees she found. Jonah recalled the moment of his mothers discovery: Oh my God! She said she couldnt afford to travel to one of the handful of states where it would have been legal. She did her best to keep Norma confined, she said, in a dark little metal box, wrapped in chains and locked.. And they said, 'Well, she is the woman who they used to do the Roe versus Wade case. Ruth and Billy didnt hide from Shelley the fact that she had been adopted. In addressing her activism for the religious right, McCorvey boasts: 'I'm a good actress.'. Religious certitude left her uncomfortable. On June 2, 1970, 37 girls had been born in Dallas County; only one of them had been placed for adoption. She wasnt sorry, about giving me away or anything.. One incident that grew to bother her, Thornton says, was a 1989 article in the National Enquirer that described her as being pro-life a snippet that anti-abortion activists seized on. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court decided that the constitutional right to privacy applied to abortion. At the same time, she feared embracing her birth mother; it might be better, she recalled, to tuck her away as background noise., Norma, too, was upset. In the decade since Norma had been thrust upon her, Shelley recalled, Norma and Roe had been always there. Unknowing friends on both sides of the abortion issue would invite Shelley to rallies. However, pro-lifers contended it was tantamount to murder and that every life, no matter how it was conceived, is precious. She decided to have the child, but didn't understand why the abortion decision should be "a government concern. Despite everything, Shelley sometimes entertained the hope of a relationship with Norma. When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. The case went on to the Supreme Court, under the filing Roe vs Wade, to protect McCorvey's privacy. Shelly Thornton is 49 years old and was born on 03/10/1973. Shelley Lynn Thornton, whose conception led to the landmark Roe v Wade ruling almost 50 years ago (ABC) The woman whose conception led to the landmark US abortion law Roe v Wade has. The motion moved through the courts until it was ultimately denied by the Supreme Court in 2005. The only thing I knew about being pro-life or pro-choice or even Roe v. Wade, Shelley recalled, was that this person had made it okay for people to go out and be promiscuous., Still, Shelley struggled to grasp what exactly Hanft was saying. But Shelley let the hours pass on that winters day. [3], In 2021, Thornton's identity as the "Roe baby" was released in Joshua Prager's book, The Family Roe: An American Story. Jennifer wanted to meet her, and she soon would. But she remained wary of her birth mother, mindful that it was the prospect of publicity that had led Norma to seek her out. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Shelley Lynn Thornton - Wikipedia She was also convicted in U.S. federal court for ten attacks at abortion clinics using arson or acid. ', Shelley Thornton (pictured during childhood) knew she was adopted but didn't know who her birth mother was until 1989 when she was contacted by reporters from The National Enquirer.
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