Orlando, FL – Tomorrow marks the thirty-two year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion. Since the Roe decision, approximately forty-five million abortions have been performed in America. But, with advances in medical technology and research indicating that abortion is emotionally and physically harmful to women, the movement to overturn Roe is gaining momentum.

On Wednesday, January 19, 2005, Norma McCorvey, the woman formally known as “Jane Roe,” asked the Supreme Court to overturn or at least reevaluate its prior decision. Norma has said she regrets her role in legalizing abortion: “Now we know so much more, and I plead with the Court to listen to the witnesses and reevaluate Roe v. Wade. It was a dreadful day in America when the Supreme Court allowed a woman to kill her own child.” Norma’s attorneys have submitted a petition for writ of certiorari, asking the court to find that changing legal and factual conditions surrounding abortion and its effects on women changes the balancing scheme used in the Court’s original rationale for the Roe decision. Under federal law, an original party in a case may request a ruling be vacated when factual and legal changes make the original decision unjust.

Mat Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, stated “The evidence we have today concerning abortion and its effects on women changes the nature of the debate. Through advances in technology, we see that a fetus is more than a glob of cells; it is a complex functioning person who needs protection. The devastating physical and emotional side-effects of abortion on women were unknown thirty-two years ago. Now is the time to change the course of America’s future. Unborn children need protection. Forty-five million lives have been lost due to the tragedy of abortion. It is my hope and prayer that the Supreme Court will revisit this case so that another generation of American children has the chance to live.”