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Linda Coffee

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Linda Coffee
Coffee as a high school student in 1961
Born (1942-12-25) December 25, 1942 (age 81)
Education
OccupationLawyer

Linda Nellene Coffee (born December 25, 1942)[1] is an American lawyer 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]

Early and personal life

Coffee was born into a Southern Baptist family. She met her partner in winter 1983 in response to a personal ad.[4]

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. In May 1968, she was licensed to practice law in Texas.[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.

After Roe, Coffee worked on bankruptcy cases.[1]

Roe v. Wade

Main article: 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. Coffee came up with the name Jane Roe. Although Weddington is more well known for this case, Coffee was the one that came in contact with Norma McCorvey.[1] It was argued that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion because of the Fourteenth Amendment.[7] The challenged Texas law only permitted abortion only if it was medically necessary to save the life of the woman.[7] 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.[8] This was a landmark decision because it enabled women everywhere in America to have an abortion in their first trimester and struck down many federal and state laws regarding abortion.[9]

Reacting to the leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, she lamented the prospect of Roe being overturned. She opined that the leak was unethical and that states will either try to allow abortion or restrict it, advising abortion rights litigators that "They should try to carry on the best they can."[10] Following the decision to overturn Roe, Coffee said the Supreme Court's decision to overturn it "flies in the face of American freedom" and "destroys dignity of all American women".[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Prager, Joshua (19 January 2017). "Roe v. Wade's Secret Heroine Tells Her Story". Vanity Fair. : profile of Coffee
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Prager, Joshua. "Exclusive: Roe v. Wade's Secret Heroine Tells Her Story". The Hive. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
  5. ^ "State Bar of Texas | Find a Lawyer | Linda Nellene Coffee".
  6. ^ Council, Texas Legislative. "Texas Legislative Council - About the Council". www.tlc.state.tx.us. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  7. ^ a b SARAH, WEDDINGTON (2010-06-15). "ROE V. WADE". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  8. ^ McBride, Dorothy E. (2008). Abortion in the United States: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 159. ISBN 9781598840988.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ Hollers, BeLynn. "Roe v. Wade lawyer Linda Coffee laments potential Supreme Court ruling to overturn Dallas case". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  11. ^ Vogt, Adrienne; Sangal, Aditi; Hammond, Elise; Wagner, Meg; Rocha, Veronica (June 25, 2022). "Attorney in 1973 Roe v. Wade case says SCOTUS decision "flies in the face of American freedom"". CNN. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
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