Chicago Tribune - June 25, 2003
Connie Lauerman, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune reporter Michael Killian and news services contributed to this report

Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff known as "Jane Roe" in the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, filed a motion in court in Dallas asking that the courts overturn the ruling based on new evidence that abortion is harmful to women.

McCorvey, who has become an anti-abortion activist, has said she regretted her role in Roe vs. Wade, and last week she said the Supreme Court decision is no longer valid because of that evidence.

To bolster the case, McCorvey's lawyer and his team from the San Antonio-based Justice Foundation, gathered affidavits from 1,000 women who have had abortions, describing the physical pain and emotional trauma they said resulted from ending their pregnancies.

McCorvey was a 21 year-old carnival barker when, pregnant for the third time, she sought an abortion. She agreed to be a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to invalidate Texas' anti-abortion statute. The Supreme Court decision came after she had the baby. It was the third child she put up for adoption.

Sarah Weddington, the abortion rights activist and attorney who originally represented McCorvey, told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram that she doubts the court will take McCorvey's request seriously.

"We might as well talk about the moon falling out of the sky first," she said.

In Kansas, the state attorney general said that doctors who perform abortions on girls under 16 must report the pregnancies to authorities.

Kansas law makes it illegal for someone under 16 to engage in sex, making a pregnancy evidence of child abuse. Another law requires doctors to report suspected abuse.

Atty. Gen. Phill Kline said doctors who fail to report such cases could face misdemeanor charges punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. They also could face disciplinary action by the state's medical licensing board.

Kline said that abortions on girls under 14 last year were double the number of child abuse investigations. A girl under 16, who is pregnant, he said, is the victim of rape.

Air Force scandal: A military panel looking into allegations of sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs largely absolved Air Force leadership of responsibility.

Instead, fear of reprisals for reporting sexual misconduct, abuse of authority by upperclassmen and misuse of alcohol were cited as major factors in the recent sexual assaults.

Even though four of the academy's top officials were removed in the wake of the scandal, Mary L. Walker, the Air Force general counsel, said the panel did not find "any systematic ignorance of the issue, any systematic avoidance by leadership" or "any wholesale mistreatment of cadets who brought forth the allegations."

U.S. Rep. Tillie Fowler (R-Fla.), who leads a seven-member independent panel probing the scandals, said the Walker report was just the beginning.

"There must be effective policies and procedures in place that ensure the young women cadets have a safe and secure learning environment at the academy," Fowler said.

Stolen love: A Missouri woman who was sued for "alienation of affection" by her alleged lover's wife, was vindicated when the state supreme court ruled 5-2 that alienation of affection is an antiquated cause that has no place in a modern legal system.

Katherine Helsel sued the woman, Sivi Noellsch, for allegedly having an affair with Helsel's husband, David. Two years ago, a Buchanan County jury found in favor of Helsel and awarded her $75,000 from Noellsch. The state's high court also overturned that financial award. Noellsch and David Helsel have since married.

Alienation of affection, which has its roots in English common law, is cause for legal action in eight states: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.

Women don't talk: A new national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that about half of women age 18 to 49, report never having discussed HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases with a doctor. Even fewer women have talked about other health-care issues related to breast cancer and heart disease, the leading killer of women.

Communicating with partners about sexual health is also lacking. About half of the women surveyed said they have not talked about HIV testing with their current partner. Sixty percent have not discussed the topic of getting tested for even more common sexually transmitted diseases.

The reasons: embarrassment or concern about being judged; not knowing what to ask or how to bring up the subject; and a belief that their doctor or partner didn't need to know.

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