- 1945: Sarah (Ragle) Weddington is born in Abeline, TX to a Methodist minister and a college business professor.
- 1947: Norma McCorvey is born in Simmesport, LA is born to an Army private and a waitress who divorced when she was 13. McCorvey recounts a troubled adolescence in both AKA Jane Roe and her 1994 memoir I Am Roe.
- 1963: Norma McCorvey drops out of high school.
- 1964: Sarah (Ragle) Weddington graduates magna cum laude from McMurry College. She enrolled at the age of 16 and majored in English
- 1964: 17-year old Norma marries 24-year-old Woody McCorvey, a twice-divorced sheet-metal worker she had known for six weeks. She moves with him to Los Angeles.
- 1964: Association to Repeal Abortion Laws is founded (later NARAL- National Abortion Rights Action League).
- 1965: Norma McCorvey divorces husband Woody and gives birth to Melissa, raised by her mother Mary.
- 1967: Sarah Weddington graduates with her law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
- 1967: Norma McCorvey gives birth to Jennifer, placed for adoption.
- 1969: September, the month she turned 22, McCorvey became pregnant for a third time with the child who would become the “Roe baby.”
- 1970: Norma, pregnant for third time, meets Sarah Weddington at a Dallas pizza parlor and agrees to be the plaintiff Roe, challenging the abortion laws in Texas. Attorneys Weddington and Linda Coffee, then preparing to contest Texas’ highly restrictive law regarding abortion, were looking for a plaintiff who wanted to terminate her pregnancy. She used the alias “Jane Roe.” Before the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, McCorvey gave birth to the child, which she placed for adoption. She never had an abortion.
- June 1970: U.S. Federal District Court in Dallas finds Texas abortion laws unconstitutional. The state of Texas appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- June 2, 1970: Norma gives birth to Shelley Lynn Thornton, adopted by Ruth and Billy Thornton and raised in Dallas. Thornton would not be identified as the “Roe baby” until September of 2021 through the investigative journalism of Joshua Prager.
- Fall of 1970: Norma meets Connie Gonzalez and moves in with her.
- Dec. 13, 1971: Appeal of Roe v. Wade is argued at the U.S. Supreme Court
- Oct. 11, 1972: Case is re-argued before the U.S. Supreme Court at the request of the Justices.
- Jan. 22, 1973: Roe vs. Wade ruling—In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court rules that women have a constitutional right to an abortion.
- 1973: Norma McCorvey reveals she is “Jane Roe”, but it is not widely known. McCorvey’s identity as Roe was revealed by the Associated Press immediately following the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision, though it did not become more widely known until later.
- 1976: Hyde Amendment first introduced into Congressional annual spending bills. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from covering abortion services for people enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
- 1980: Norma goes widely public as “Jane Roe” when she grants an interview to a Dallas TV
newscaster. - 1986: Operation Rescue Founded with Flip Benham as its leader.
- 1989: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services—The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a Missouri law regulating abortion care that prohibited the use of public facilities, employees, or funds to provide abortion counseling or services.
- April 1989: Norma invited to a massive pro-choice rally in Washington protesting Webster. She meets prominent feminists and Gloria Allred who becomes a prominent figure in her life, bringing her to Los Angeles and introducing her to a wider world.
- May 1989: Roe vs. Wade with Holly Hunter airs on NBC while the Supreme Court debates Webster. Holly Hunter plays McCorvey in the film. Producer Michael Manneheim creates it over four years in Los Angeles. The movie goes on to win Emmys for Hunter and Drama or Comedy Special.
- 1992: Norma and Connie begin working in abortion clinics in Dallas.
- 1992: Planned Parenthood v. Casey—U.S. Supreme Court finds Pennsylvania law that required spousal awareness prior to obtaining an abortion was invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment. Roe is affirmed, but the determination of viability of the fetus and restrictions on rights changed.
- 1994: Publication of Norma’s first memoir, I Am Roe: My Life, Roe v. Wade and Freedom of Choice
- May 29, 1995: Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, moves in next door to an abortion clinic where Norma McCorvey is working as marketing director.
- 1998: Publication of Norma’s second memoir Won by Love.
- 2009: Norma leaves Connie, 5 years after Connie has a stroke.
- 2013: Hyde Amendment Codification Act—Prohibits the expenditure for any abortion of funds authorized or appropriated by federal law or funds in any trust fund to which funds are authorized or appropriated by federal law. Prohibits the use of federal funds for any health benefits coverage that includes abortion.
- 2015: Connie Gonzalez dies.
- 2017: AKA Jane Roe documentary is filmed, and Norma makes a stunning “deathbed confession”, which is not revealed till the film is released in 2020.
- 2017: Norma McCorvey dies at age 69 of heart failure at an assisted living facility in Katy, Texas.
- 2020: AKA Jane Roe documentary is released with Norma’s confession of her true beliefs about abortion
- December 26, 2021: Sarah Weddington dies at age 76.
- May 2022: Leak of draft opinion by Samuel Alito, stating that SCOTUS will overturn Roe v. Wade.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, New York Times, Congress.gov, Guttmacher Institute