Sarah Weddington

Abstract

Lawyer, politician, and advocate for women's rights and reproductive health care. Born on Feb 5, 1945 in Abilene, TX, USA, she died on Dec 26, 2021 in Austin, TX, aged 76 years. Sarah Weddington was only 26 years old in 1971 when she first argued the Roe v Wade case in front of the US Supreme Court, which ultimately resulted in the landmark 1973 decision legalising abortion across the country. This victory defined her career in law, politics, and education, as she fought to expand women's rights and access to reproductive health care. Her other accomplishments included serving as the first woman General Counsel for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). “She told me, ‘I never thought my whole life would be about abortion’”, said Susan Hays, a former student of Weddington's and a lawyer now running for Texas Agriculture Commissioner. But Hays said Weddington embraced her role in defending the right to abortion and remained eager to fundraise for reproductive health-care providers and to speak out publicly against legal attacks on abortion services. “I regret that we are still having to defend Roe v Wade, but it is certainly important to do that,” Weddington said in an interview. “It will be wonderful when it is assured and we can move on to work for other legal issues.” Weddington graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, USA, in 1967. She was partly motivated to attend after a dean at what was then McMurry College in Abilene, where she did her undergraduate studies, told her “‘No woman from this college has ever gone to law school. It would be too tough’”, she said in 2003. Her involvement in Roe v Wade initially began after she graduated, when a group of activists asked if they could be prosecuted for assisting women to access abortions. As she researched the question, she linked up with Linda Coffee, a classmate from law school, who asked Weddington to join a case she was pursuing to challenge the Texas law banning most abortions. In her 1992 memoir, Weddington revealed that she had a personal understanding of that ban: she had sought an abortion in her third year of law school and was forced to travel to Mexico for the procedure. When Roe v Wade reached the US Supreme Court in 1971, it was Weddington who argued the case. “Sarah was a preacher's daughter and knew how to do public speaking”, Hays said. Two of the nine positions on the court were empty in the initial hearing and she had to reargue the case the next year to a full chamber. By the time the court reached its decision in January, 1973, she had been elected to the Texas House of Representatives as the first woman to represent Travis County. As a legislator, she successfully helped reform state laws on sexual assault, including increasing the statute of limitations on reporting rape and preventing the questioning of rape victims about past sexual activity. “She felt that women had been discriminated against and would continue to be discriminated against and she must fight for women's rights and change the law so it's a more equal and just society”, said Rebecca Seawright, a former student of Weddington's and a Member of the New York State Assembly. Weddington was in her third term in 1977 when US President Jimmy Carter's administration tapped her to become USDA General Counsel. “It was the biggest legal department in the federal government, aside from the Justice Department”, said Barbara Haugen, who served as Weddington's Director of Communications after she was recruited away from USDA to join the White House as Special Assistant on Women's Issues in 1978. From that role, Weddington was promoted to Assistant to the President. In addition to recruiting women for judgeships and administrative positions, “we were doing liaison work to all the state and local organisations and entities”, Haugen said, as well as national groups. Weddington also developed strategy for the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment. Weddington left federal politics after Carter's 1980 electoral defeat and eventually settled into roles as a lecturer at Texas Woman's University and an adjunct professor at the University of Texas, where she taught a seminar on leadership and a course on gender-based discrimination. Celia Israel, a former student of hers and a member of the Texas House of Representatives, said “Sarah's legacy wasn’t just about her famous argument before the Supreme Court to legalise abortion and protect women, it was her long years helping young [students] learn about the world around them.” Weddington encouraged and promoted women, Seawright said. “She submitted countless letters for her students recommending them for law school or jobs. She was always interested in helping young people, lifting them up, steering them on a path to advocacy.”