"From the back-alley clinics of illegal abortionists to the behind-the-scene deliberations of the Supreme Court justices, Roe v. Wade is a riveting history of the thorniest ethical debate ever brought before the Supreme Court. Marian Faux tells the full story behind the struggle of two lawyers, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, recently appointed to the bar, and Norma McCorvey, their unwed, unemployed, and pregnant client, to challenge the state on one of the most contentious issues of the modern age.

Since 1973, when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, activists on both sides have contested the controversial ruling with increasing militancy. In the last ten years, abortion extremists have killed three physicians and three clinic employees, injured many others, and bombed eight clinics that provide abortions.".

"In this updated edition Faux details recent challenges and erosions to the decision - including parental consent laws and bans on partial-birth abortions - and illuminates how the ruling has impacted public attitudes and policy. Dominating health care funding, religious ideologies, and party platforms, Roe v. Wade is a revolutionary decision that remains besieged and defended in equal measure, an issue in perpetual motion with little hope for either a decisive victory or a peaceful compromise.

Faux's book is the definitive history, thoroughly balanced, and sensitively attuned to the complexity of our country's most incendiary issue."--BOOK JACKET.