American newsmaker, revealed publicly in 2021 to be “the Roe baby” whose conception in 1969 gave rise to the legal case Roe v. Wade in which the U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in 1973 that individual state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional.
Her mother, Norma McCorvey (later pseudonym “Jane Roe”), became pregnant with her in 1969 and attempted to obtain an illegal abortion, but the recommended clinic had been closed down by authorities.
Eventually, McCorvey was referred to attorneys Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who were looking for pregnant women who were seeking abortions. The case, Roe v. Wade (Henry Wade was the district attorney), took three years of trials to reach the Supreme Court of the United States, and McCorvey never attended a single trial.
During the course of the lawsuit, McCorvey gave birth to Shelley and placed her up for adoption.
Three days after her birth Shelley was adopted by a couple and raised by them in Washington state.
Her biological mother had her traced and she was informed of McCorvey’s identity 10 days before her 19th birthday, in 1989. The 20 June 1989 issue of the Enquirer tabloid revealed her story but not her identity.
She married a man, Doug, in March 1991, and they had a son and two daughters.
In March 2013, she met her two half-sisters. She declined to meet her biological mother, Norma McCorvey, who died in 2017. In 2021 her name and identity were revealed with her permission in the biography The Family Roe: An American Story and associated news reports.
Link to Wikipedia biography