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Ms. McCorvey, center, at an anti-abortion protest in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in 2009.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press; thumbnail, Ron Galella/WireImage, 1989
Norma McCorvey
Died on February 18, 2017 at age 69
Ms. McCorvey was the anonymous plaintiff in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States, reshaping the nation’s social and political landscapes and inflaming one of the most divisive controversies of the past half-century. Later in her life she changed sides, becoming a staunch protester of the decision.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.