DEEP DIVE
Learn more about the real people, events, and legal and human contexts of the play, as well as getting resources for further reading and exploration on your own. We’ll be adding to this page during the play’s run, so check back with us!
Overview of the Play
These articles dig in specifically to the creation of the play, the mind of the playwright, and thoughts on other productions.
- WRITING ROE: An article about Oregon Shakespeare Company commissioning this play
- Chicago Tribune: Lisa Loomer’s ROE wants to honor both sides of the abortion debate.
- The New Yorker: A Play About Roe v. Wade That is a Parable of an Exclusionary Women’s Movement
- The Guardian: Telling the story behind Roe v. Wade
- Want a brief primer yourself or attending with teens? Arena Stage created THIS STUDY GUIDE (PDF) to give some brief background on Roe v. Wade, terminology, and the creation of the play.
The Real People of Roe
- Horizon: ROE People & Events Timeline (Text Format)
- Horizon: ROE People & Events Timeline (Full-Color PDF)
- The Life and Legacy of Norma McCorvey (PDF) (a 2018 scholarly article from the History Commons)
- The Weddington Center: for in-depth information about Sarah Weddington’s life and work
- Harvard Library: Joshua Prager Collection on Norma McCorvey and Roe V. Wade: features both original and photocopied documents compiled by the journalist Joshua Prager in the course of his research for a book about Roe V. Wade. The full collection includes correspondence, photographs, printed material, speeches, articles, financial records, journal entries and notes, pro-life poems and songs, notebooks and journal entries, speeches, court documents and depositions, prayer cards, contact lists, and travel itineraries. This material documents the personal and professional life of Norma McCorvey, as well as the history and the aftermath of the 1973 Roe V. Wade Supreme Court decision. Joshua Prager received much of this original material in 2011 from McCorvey’s former partner, Consuela “Connie” Gonzales. In 2014, McCorvey granted Prager ownership of the papers he had received from Gonzales. Prager collected some of the other Roe V. Wade research material found in this collection by contacting people from McCorvey’s past.
- The Atlantic: The ROE Baby Tells Her Story by Joshua Prager (PDF)
- Vanity Fair: The Accidental Activist — Tracing the Life of Norma McCorvey by Joshua Prager (PDF)
- AKA Jane Roe: The Two Lives of Norma McCorvey (Word docx) – This article is about the 2020 documentary AKA Jane Roe, filmed in Norma’s last days and including her final confession of her true views on abortion.
- Watch the excellent documentary AKA Jane Roe on Hulu
- Below, watch clips from the documentary Reversing Roe, a 2018 Netflix documentary film. These clips show Norma, Flip, and Ronda in the 1990s Operation Rescue years. (Or click here to watch the full documentary on Netflix. Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times stated that the film … “provides a clear and accessible overview of more than 50 years of the social and legal history of the issue in the United States.”)
BOOKS
- The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager
- I am Roe: My Life, Roe V. Wade, and Freedom of Choice by Norma McCorvey
- Won by Love by Norma McCorvey
- A Question of Choice: Roe v. Wade by Sarah Weddington
ROE V. WADE: The Case
- Horizon: ROE People & Events Timeline (a page on our site)
- Horizon: ROE People & Events Timeline (Full-Color PDF)
- Roe V. Wade: Then and Now (a page on our site) – covers the legal decision, related decisions, and relevant constitutional amendments
- Roe V. Wade: C-SPAN Audio from the Supreme Court Oral Arguments 1973 – Hear Sarah Weddington and the actual oral arguments along with some C-Span video commentary looking back.
- Roe V. Wade: A summary of the case and links to audio of Sarah Weddington’s oral arguments in 1971 and 1973.
- Roe V. Wade: Original Opinion Document (PDF) – written by Justice Harry Blackmun
- THE LEAK: Read the recent leaked draft opinion written by Samuel Alito to overturn Roe V. Wade.
- Eric J. Segall’s Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court Is Not a Court and Its Justices Are Not Judges
- Vox.com: How We Got Here: Roe v. Wade from 1973 to Today
- Vox.com: Where will abortion still be legal after Roe v. Wade is overturned?
- U.S. News & World Report: Four Decades Ago, U.S. News Barely Acknowledged Roe v. Wade
Resources in Georgia and How to Help
- Feminist Women’s Health Center
- The Women’s Centers: Atlanta
- ACLU: Your Mini Guide to Discussing Abortion Rights at the Dinner Table
- Planned Parenthood
- Emory University Rollins School of Public Health: GEMMA (Global Elimination of Maternal Mortality from Abortion)
- Catholics for Choice
- Amplify Georgia Collaborative
Miscellaneous Information
- Protest Timeline (Full-Color PDF, photography-dominant)
- Forced sterilization policies in the US targeted minorities and those with disabilities (Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation; University of Michigan)
- Mass sterilization of indigenous people (TIME Magazine)
- Sterilization of Puerto Rican Women: A Selected, Partially Annotated Bibliography (University of Wisconsin-Madison)