The Story of Roe v. Wade, Part 1: Who Was Jane Roe? (From the Archive)

This week, the release of a draft Supreme Court opinion striking down Roe v. Wade has put a spotlight on the 50-year-old case that redefined abortion in America.

Today, we revisit a two-part series that first ran in 2018 about the history of the case and the woman behind it.

In Part 1, the story of Jane Roe.

Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, co-host of The Daily. As a correspondent in 2018, she reported on the story of Roe v. Wade.

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Background reading:

• The leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade also takes aim at its version of history, challenging decades of scholarship that argues abortion was not always a crime.
• Remembering a time before Roe: When New York legalized abortion in 1970, three years before the landmark ruling, hundreds of thousands of women traveled there from other states for the procedure.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.