- Shelley Lynn Thorton is the biological child of Jane Roe from the landmark 1973
Roe v Wade SCOTUS case. - Now 51, Thorton has identified herself as the "Roe baby."
- Thorton said knowing she was supposed to be aborted affected her mental
health , but she doesn't want to be an anti-abortion symbol.
Shelley Lynn Thorton, the woman whose birth led to the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court case, is finally speaking about her life after 51 years of anonymity.
In journalist Joshua Prager's upcoming book "The Family Roe: An American Story," Thornton explains why she waited half a century to reveal her identity.
"Secrets and lies are, like, the two worst things in the whole world," Thorton told Prager. "I'm keeping a secret, but I hate it."
Her mother, known to the world as Jane Roe but to Thorton as Norma McCorvey, gave Thornton up for adoption because the court case lasted longer than her pregnancy. Still, Thorton's legacy as the baby whose existence spurred change in reproductive rights remains.
Now, Roe v Wade, which says people have a federal right to abortion without extensive government intervention, is in jeopardy as states like Texas pass restrictive legislation effectively banning the procedure.
Thorton said knowing she was unwanted made her depressed and anxious
A single woman in Dallas who later married became Thorton's adoptive mother. She didn't know at the time Thorton's relationship with Roe v Wade.
Though Thorton's adoptive family never hid the circumstances of their family from her, Thorton said she became anxious and depressed as a young teenager because she felt unwanted.
"When someone's pregnant with a baby and they don't want that baby, that person develops knowing they're not wanted," Thorton told Prager.
Ten days before Thornton turned 19, she met her birth mother and learned her identity as Jane Roe. As the adoptive daughter of an anti-abortion couple, Thorton reeled.
"The only thing I knew about being pro-life or pro-choice or even Roe v. Wade was that this person had made it OK for people to go out and be promiscuous," Thorton said of her thinking at the time.
She told Prager tabloids used her hurt feelings and shock at the time to frame her as "pro-life," when she had said that she couldn't see herself getting an
When McCorvey died from heart failure four years ago, Thorton, now a mother of three, didn't say goodbye in person.
Instead, Thorton reflected on what she longed for from her biological mother, to "feel something for another human being, especially for one she brought into this world."
"I want her to experience this joy - the good that it brings. I have wished that for her forever and have never told anyone."