Linda Nellene Coffee (born December 25, 1942)[1] is an American attorney living in Dallas, Texas. Coffee is best known, along with Sarah Weddington, for arguing the precedent-setting United States Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade.[2][3]
Education
Coffee earned a Bachelor of Arts in German from Rice University in 1965 followed by a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Texas in February 1968. She was licensed to practice in Texas three months later, in May 1968.[4]
Personal life
Coffee was born into a Southern Baptist family. She met her partner in winter 1983 in response to a personal ad.[5]
Career
Once she graduated from law school she worked for the Texas Legislative Council.[1] The Texas Legislative Council does research for the Texas legislature.[6] Coffee was also a clerk for Sarah Hughes, who was a federal judge in Texas.[1] Coffee was a member of the Women's Equity Action League, an organization working toward equal employment opportunities for women. She and Weddington agreed to take McCorvey's case to challenge Texas' anti-abortion law.
The Court's decision was ultimately handed down in January 1973, overturning Texas’ abortion law by a 7-2 majority and legalizing abortion within the first trimester of pregnancy.[7] After Roe, Coffee worked on bankruptcy cases.[1]
Roe v. Wade
Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington argued in favor of Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe, and her right to have an abortion in the case Roe v Wade. Although Weddington is more well known for this case, Coffee was the one that came in contact with Norma McCorvey.[1] This was a landmark decision because it enabled women to have an abortion in their first trimester and because it overturned current federal and state laws regarding abortion.[8] It was argued that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion because of the Fourteenth Amendment.[9] The challenged Texas law only permitted abortion only if it was medically necessary to save the life of the woman.[9] Coffee came up with the name Jane Roe.
References
- ^ a b c d e Prager, Joshua (19 January 2017). "Roe v. Wade's Secret Heroine Tells Her Story". Vanity Fair. : profile of Coffee
- ^ Garrow, David J. (27 September 1992). "She Put the v in Roe v. Wade". New York Times. : review of A Question of Choice by Sarah Weddington
- ^ Garrow, David J. (1998). Liberty and Sexuality : The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade (Updated paperback ed.). University of California Press. p. 1064. ISBN 9780520213029.
- ^ "State Bar of Texas | Find a Lawyer | Linda Nellene Coffee".
- ^ Prager, Joshua. "Exclusive: Roe v. Wade's Secret Heroine Tells Her Story". The Hive. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
- ^ Council, Texas Legislative. "Texas Legislative Council - About the Council". www.tlc.state.tx.us. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
- ^ McBride, Dorothy E. (2008). Abortion in the United States: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 159. ISBN 9781598840988.
- ^ "A History of Key Abortion Rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
- ^ a b SARAH, WEDDINGTON (2010-06-15). "ROE V. WADE". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.