Sarah Catherine Ragle Weddington (February 5, 1945 – December 26, 2021) was an American attorney, law professor, advocate for women's rights and reproductive health, and member of the Texas House of Representatives. She was best known for representing "Jane Roe" (real name Norma McCorvey) in the landmark Roe v. Wade case before the United States Supreme Court. She also was the first woman General Counsel for the US Department of Agriculture. Early life and education Sarah Ragle was born on February 5, 1945, in Abilene, Texas, to Lena Catherine and Herbert Doyle Ragle, a Methodist minister. As a child, she was drum major of her junior high band, president of the Methodist youth fellowship at her church, played the organ, sang in the church choir, and rode horses. Weddington graduated from high school two years early and then graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from McMurry University in Abilene. She was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority. In 1964, she entered the University of Texas Law School. partly motivated after the dean at McMurry College, told her "No woman from this college has ever gone to law school. It would be too tough". She was one of only five women in her law school class of 120. In 1967, during her third year of law school, Weddington became pregnant by Ron Weddington and travelled to Mexico for an illegal abortion, a fact she didn't reveal until 1992. She received her J.D. that same year, graduating in the top quarter of her class. Career After graduating, Weddington found it difficult to find a job with a law firm. She joined a group of graduate students at University of Texas-Austin who were researching ways to challenge various anti-abortion statutes. Soon after, a pregnant woman named Norma McCorvey visited a local attorney seeking an abortion. The attorney instead assisted McCorvey with handing over her child for adoption and after doing so, referred McCorvey to Weddington and Linda Coffee. In March 1970, Weddington and her co-counsel filed suit against Henry Wade, the Dallas district attorney and the person responsible for enforcing the anti-abortion statute. McCorvey became the landmark plaintiff and was referred in the legal documents as "Jane Roe" to protect her identity. In May 1970, Weddington first stated her case in front of a three-judge district court in Dallas. The district court agreed that the Texas abortion laws were unconstitutional, but the