'Jane Roe’ arrested after protest at Sotomayor confirmation hearing

Washington D.C., Jul 14, 2009 / 17:12 pm

Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” in the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision Roe v. Wade, was removed from the Senate confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Monday and arrested after she and three others protested the Supreme Court nominee’s stand on abortion.

She was escorted out of the hearings after she shouted to Sotomayor that she was “wrong” in her view of abortion, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

"You're wrong Sotomayor," she said. "You're wrong about abortion."

Capitol police arrested McCorvey and Robert M. James, 48, from Virginia; Andre R. Beachman, 27, from Indiana; and Francis Mahoney, 68, from Florida.

McCorvey was the plaintiff “Jane Roe” in the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which imposed permissive abortion laws nationwide. She reportedly became a “poster child” for the pro-abortion movement, but turned to the pro-life cause in the 1990s.

She converted to Catholicism in 1998 and now lives in Texas.

Before the hearings, McCorvey was among a group of pro-life activists who protested Sotomayor’s confirmation outside the Hart Senate Office building. The group held signs saying “Stop All Abortions.” Some displayed graphic images of aborted fetuses.

One protester wore a black judicial robe and held a sickle in protest of Judge Sotomayor’s reported view on abortion.

“I’m here to overturn Roe and defeat Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” McCorvey said earlier in the day, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “She’s unworthy of the position. She’s Catholic. She’s even unworthy of taking communion because of her pro-abortion stance.”