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Sandra Cano (Mary Doe)

January 01, 1970

Sandra Cano (born 1947/1948 – September 30, 2014), (née Race) better known by the legal pseudonym "Mary Doe," was the plaintiff in the lawsuit case Doe v. Bolton (1970), the companion case to Roe v. Wade (1973) which legalized abortion in the United States. Cano held anti-abortion views and claimed she had been manipulated by her lawyer, Margie Pitts Hames. She repeatedly attempted to have the decision overturned. She also undertook anti-abortion activism, with Norma Jane McCorvey (Jane Roe) among others, and filed a Friend of the Court brief seeking to limit partial birth abortions.

Sandra Cano (right) at the 1998 March for Life

Early life edit

Cano was born in 1947/1948 in Georgia to an impoverished, abusive family. She stood out among her peers, as she was overweight, had Bell's palsy, and had a learning disability.[1][2] She went to school until she dropped out in the ninth grade.[3] She met Joe Bensing, a gas station employee from Oklahoma, when she was seventeen years old and soon became pregnant with his child. Her parents called a "shotgun" wedding in 1965 when they found out. Prior to their relationship, Bensing was convicted multiple times as a child molester and kidnapper and continued to violate his probation throughout their marriage.[1]

Journey to Supreme Court case edit

In 1968, her mother forced her into a mental institution due to her stress from her chaotic marriage, but she escaped soon after and never went back.[4] She still had concerns with her mental stability, causing the juvenile court's decision to place her children in foster care.[5] When she was twenty-two years old, she sought out a lawyer to help her get a divorce and gain custody of her two children in foster care. She discovered the Atlanta Legal Aid Office and was introduced to an ACLU lawyer named Margie Pitts Hames when she was pregnant with her fourth child.[6][5]

Personal position edit

While working on Cano's divorce and custody case, Hames became involved in the Doe v. Bolton case, a lawsuit against the Georgia attorney general Arthur K. Bolton.[6] There is no clear claim as to how Cano became involved in the Doe case despite her self-proclaimed anti-abortion stance; Cano claims that Hames never notified her of her role as a plaintiff in a case to legalize abortion and was asked to sign documents, which Cano never read.[6] Other stories claim that Cano purposely went to the Atlanta Legal Aid to file for a divorce alongside an abortion on March 25, 1970, at the Grady Memorial Hospital, the only nearby hospital where impoverished people could receive free abortions.[5]

Lower court decision edit

A month later, three local district court judges heard her case. After sixteen days, they ruled in favor of Hames' argument and struck down parts of Georgia's abortion law.[5] The law stated that women who wanted an abortion needed to consult their primary doctor, two other doctors, and the hospital's committee. It also limited abortion to residents of Georgia who had evidence of carrying deformed fetuses, health-risking pregnancies, and being victims of rape.[7] It was sent to the Supreme Court, as both Hames and Bolton appealed. Hames claims that she informed Cano of a chance to testify her wishes to have an abortion, and Cano agreed.[5]

Supreme Court case (Doe v. Bolton) edit

In preparation for the Supreme Court case, Hames applied Cano for an abortion without Cano's knowledge. When the abortion was approved, Hames notified Cano, who strongly reiterated that she did not want an abortion. At the time, she was 6 months pregnant. Cano, afraid that she would be forced to have the abortion, fled to Oklahoma until her mother and Hames assured her that she would not have to abort the child.[8]

Legal argument edit

On the day of the Supreme Court case, Hames prepared three arguments supporting the reformation of Georgia's abortion law. First, she argued that there was a conflict of what constituted a "legal abortion" due to the vague requirements that doctors had to meet in order to approve an abortion. She claimed this was a violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Hames's second claim was that the abortion law of Georgia did not have the right to override women's decisions to have an abortion. She used the decision made in Griswold v. Connecticut and the Fourteenth Amendment to support her claim. Finally, Hames argued that Georgia's abortion law negatively impacted medical professionals and marginalized women, as abortions were only allowed to be performed in state approved hospitals. This limited the number of hospitals women could receive abortions at, which infringed on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.[7]

Cano in court edit

Despite Hames' argument, Cano did not fully understand the events of the case, and Hames instructed Cano to only spectate the proceedings.[8] She never testified on paper or verbally for her case.[9] Bolton emphasized the fact that Cano was never asked if she was pregnant or if she ever wanted an abortion. If Cano was given the chance to testify, the court would have discovered Cano's anti-abortion stance.[8] Cano stated feeling manipulated by Hames because she was used to be a plaintiff in a case that supported a view on abortion that she disagreed on, especially by a lawyer who was assisting her in a vulnerable stage in her life.[6][10]

Decision edit

The decision for Doe v. Bolton was given on January 22, 1973,[11] the same day as the famous companion case Roe v. Wade. The majority was given by Justice Blackmun in the 7–2 decision, which restricted Georgia's anti-abortion law.[5][12] The Supreme Court used the Fourteenth Amendment's implied right to privacy to back up their decision. The decision established the definition of the "health of the mother," clarifying that the definition of health includes multiple factors: "physical, psychological, familial, and the woman's age."[13]

Life after court decision edit

After the 1973 decision, Sandra strongly reiterated that she was anti-abortion and searched for ways to overturn the decision.[14] In the following year, she went to Georgia Right to Life, attempting to find someone who could analyze the impact of her role in Doe v. Bolton.[5] She began her alliance with the president of the Justice Foundation, Allan Parker, in Fayetteville, NC.[6][15] She failed to reverse the decision in 1989,[5] in 2000 in a Rule 60 Motion,[15] and in 2006.[14] In her attempts, she testified that her role in the Doe case was misleading due to her opposition to abortion.[16] She was quoted as saying she "[didn't] want to be part of something that is so deadly wrong..."[5]

In 2007, she and 180 other women who had previous experiences with abortion worked alongside the Justice Foundation to file a Friend of the Court Brief at the Supreme Court in support of a federal ban on partial birth abortion. Taking into account the women's claims on struggles after abortion, including depression and low self-esteem, the Court recognized Cano as anti-Abortion, reversing her reputation from her case.[15] In 2014, Cano worked to support North Dakota's ban on abortions at the point of a noticeable heartbeat, or six weeks, by speaking to the States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.[15]

Later years edit

Cano was able to reconnect with her daughter, Melissa Able, in 1989, who was 19 years old with a husband and child at the time. They resided together until a fight ensued a few months later about their differing views on abortion.[5][11]

On January 14, 2002, Cano, Norma McCovey, the plaintiff in the Roe v. Wade case, and multiple anti-abortion organizations came together to create the "Shake the Nation Back to Life Campaign" with a purpose of convincing President Bush and the Senate that abortion is detrimental to both the child and the mother.[17] They wanted the Bush administration to elect anti-abortion members of the judicial branch who would have a different stance on abortion.[17]

Cano died on September 30, 2014.

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Pro Life - Anti Abortion Facts and Pro-Life Arguments". www.priestsforlife.org. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  2. ^ "Pro Life - Anti Abortion Facts and Pro-Life Arguments". www.priestsforlife.org. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  3. ^ Treadwell, David (1989-06-25). "Abortion Plaintiffs Now on Opposite Sides : Similar Pasts, Different Viewpoints for Roe, Doe". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  4. ^ "Abortion Plaintiffs Now on Opposite Sides : Similar Pasts, Different Viewpoints for Roe, Doe". Los Angeles Times. 1989-06-25. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Duin, Julia (1997-01-22). "'Mary Doe' feels she has 'blood on her hands': Cano decries partial-birth abortions". link.galegroup.com. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  6. ^ a b c d e "'Jane Doe's' Story: An Interview With Sandra Cano". National Catholic Register. 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  7. ^ a b Abboud, Carolina (2017-11-29). "Doe v. Bolton (1973) | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia". embryo.asu.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  8. ^ a b c Cassidy, Harold (2017-02-23). "Remembering Jane Roe and Mary Doe: The Courage of Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano". Public Discourse. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  9. ^ "Pro Life - Anti Abortion Facts and Pro-Life Arguments". www.priestsforlife.org. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  10. ^ Curriden, Mark (1989). "DOE VS. BOLTON: Mary Doe has a change of heart, pickets abortion clinics". ABA Journal. 75 (7): 26. ISSN 0747-0088. JSTOR 20760563.
  11. ^ a b "Abortion Plaintiff, Daughter Reunited". Los Angeles Times. 1989-12-10. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  12. ^ "U.S. high court firm on '73 abortion case". UPI NewsTrack. October 11, 2006.
  13. ^ "Doe v. Bolton". American Life League. 2017-09-05. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  14. ^ a b "Sandra Cano, the 'Mary Doe' of landmark abortion case, dies". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  15. ^ a b c d Parker/Bound4Life, Allan. ""Mary Doe" of Doe v. Bolton: Why Her Life Matters Now More Than Ever". Charisma News. Retrieved 2019-12-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Statement of Sandra Cano (The Former 'Mary Doe' of Doe V. Bolton) on the 40th Anniversary of 'Roe' and 'Doe' - Christian Newswire". christiannewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  17. ^ a b "FRC Supports TV Campaign Featuring Former Pro-Abortion Leaders". PR Newswire. January 14, 2002.

External links edit

  • Sandra Cano speaking at the 1998 March for Life (C-SPAN)

January 01, 1970
sandra, cano, mary, sandra, cano, born, 1947, 1948, september, 2014, née, race, better, known, legal, pseudonym, mary, plaintiff, lawsuit, case, bolton, 1970, companion, case, wade, 1973, which, legalized, abortion, united, states, cano, held, anti, abortion, . Sandra Cano born 1947 1948 September 30 2014 nee Race better known by the legal pseudonym Mary Doe was the plaintiff in the lawsuit case Doe v Bolton 1970 the companion case to Roe v Wade 1973 which legalized abortion in the United States Cano held anti abortion views and claimed she had been manipulated by her lawyer Margie Pitts Hames She repeatedly attempted to have the decision overturned She also undertook anti abortion activism with Norma Jane McCorvey Jane Roe among others and filed a Friend of the Court brief seeking to limit partial birth abortions Sandra Cano right at the 1998 March for Life Contents 1 Early life 2 Journey to Supreme Court case 2 1 Personal position 2 2 Lower court decision 3 Supreme Court case Doe v Bolton 3 1 Legal argument 3 2 Cano in court 3 3 Decision 4 Life after court decision 5 Later years 6 References 7 External linksEarly life editCano was born in 1947 1948 in Georgia to an impoverished abusive family She stood out among her peers as she was overweight had Bell s palsy and had a learning disability 1 2 She went to school until she dropped out in the ninth grade 3 She met Joe Bensing a gas station employee from Oklahoma when she was seventeen years old and soon became pregnant with his child Her parents called a shotgun wedding in 1965 when they found out Prior to their relationship Bensing was convicted multiple times as a child molester and kidnapper and continued to violate his probation throughout their marriage 1 Journey to Supreme Court case editIn 1968 her mother forced her into a mental institution due to her stress from her chaotic marriage but she escaped soon after and never went back 4 She still had concerns with her mental stability causing the juvenile court s decision to place her children in foster care 5 When she was twenty two years old she sought out a lawyer to help her get a divorce and gain custody of her two children in foster care She discovered the Atlanta Legal Aid Office and was introduced to an ACLU lawyer named Margie Pitts Hames when she was pregnant with her fourth child 6 5 Personal position edit While working on Cano s divorce and custody case Hames became involved in the Doe v Bolton case a lawsuit against the Georgia attorney general Arthur K Bolton 6 There is no clear claim as to how Cano became involved in the Doe case despite her self proclaimed anti abortion stance Cano claims that Hames never notified her of her role as a plaintiff in a case to legalize abortion and was asked to sign documents which Cano never read 6 Other stories claim that Cano purposely went to the Atlanta Legal Aid to file for a divorce alongside an abortion on March 25 1970 at the Grady Memorial Hospital the only nearby hospital where impoverished people could receive free abortions 5 Lower court decision edit A month later three local district court judges heard her case After sixteen days they ruled in favor of Hames argument and struck down parts of Georgia s abortion law 5 The law stated that women who wanted an abortion needed to consult their primary doctor two other doctors and the hospital s committee It also limited abortion to residents of Georgia who had evidence of carrying deformed fetuses health risking pregnancies and being victims of rape 7 It was sent to the Supreme Court as both Hames and Bolton appealed Hames claims that she informed Cano of a chance to testify her wishes to have an abortion and Cano agreed 5 Supreme Court case Doe v Bolton editIn preparation for the Supreme Court case Hames applied Cano for an abortion without Cano s knowledge When the abortion was approved Hames notified Cano who strongly reiterated that she did not want an abortion At the time she was 6 months pregnant Cano afraid that she would be forced to have the abortion fled to Oklahoma until her mother and Hames assured her that she would not have to abort the child 8 Legal argument edit On the day of the Supreme Court case Hames prepared three arguments supporting the reformation of Georgia s abortion law First she argued that there was a conflict of what constituted a legal abortion due to the vague requirements that doctors had to meet in order to approve an abortion She claimed this was a violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment Hames s second claim was that the abortion law of Georgia did not have the right to override women s decisions to have an abortion She used the decision made in Griswold v Connecticut and the Fourteenth Amendment to support her claim Finally Hames argued that Georgia s abortion law negatively impacted medical professionals and marginalized women as abortions were only allowed to be performed in state approved hospitals This limited the number of hospitals women could receive abortions at which infringed on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment 7 Cano in court edit Despite Hames argument Cano did not fully understand the events of the case and Hames instructed Cano to only spectate the proceedings 8 She never testified on paper or verbally for her case 9 Bolton emphasized the fact that Cano was never asked if she was pregnant or if she ever wanted an abortion If Cano was given the chance to testify the court would have discovered Cano s anti abortion stance 8 Cano stated feeling manipulated by Hames because she was used to be a plaintiff in a case that supported a view on abortion that she disagreed on especially by a lawyer who was assisting her in a vulnerable stage in her life 6 10 Decision edit The decision for Doe v Bolton was given on January 22 1973 11 the same day as the famous companion case Roe v Wade The majority was given by Justice Blackmun in the 7 2 decision which restricted Georgia s anti abortion law 5 12 The Supreme Court used the Fourteenth Amendment s implied right to privacy to back up their decision The decision established the definition of the health of the mother clarifying that the definition of health includes multiple factors physical psychological familial and the woman s age 13 Life after court decision editAfter the 1973 decision Sandra strongly reiterated that she was anti abortion and searched for ways to overturn the decision 14 In the following year she went to Georgia Right to Life attempting to find someone who could analyze the impact of her role in Doe v Bolton 5 She began her alliance with the president of the Justice Foundation Allan Parker in Fayetteville NC 6 15 She failed to reverse the decision in 1989 5 in 2000 in a Rule 60 Motion 15 and in 2006 14 In her attempts she testified that her role in the Doe case was misleading due to her opposition to abortion 16 She was quoted as saying she didn t want to be part of something that is so deadly wrong 5 In 2007 she and 180 other women who had previous experiences with abortion worked alongside the Justice Foundation to file a Friend of the Court Brief at the Supreme Court in support of a federal ban on partial birth abortion Taking into account the women s claims on struggles after abortion including depression and low self esteem the Court recognized Cano as anti Abortion reversing her reputation from her case 15 In 2014 Cano worked to support North Dakota s ban on abortions at the point of a noticeable heartbeat or six weeks by speaking to the States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit 15 Later years editCano was able to reconnect with her daughter Melissa Able in 1989 who was 19 years old with a husband and child at the time They resided together until a fight ensued a few months later about their differing views on abortion 5 11 On January 14 2002 Cano Norma McCovey the plaintiff in the Roe v Wade case and multiple anti abortion organizations came together to create the Shake the Nation Back to Life Campaign with a purpose of convincing President Bush and the Senate that abortion is detrimental to both the child and the mother 17 They wanted the Bush administration to elect anti abortion members of the judicial branch who would have a different stance on abortion 17 Cano died on September 30 2014 References edit a b Pro Life Anti Abortion Facts and Pro Life Arguments www priestsforlife org Retrieved 2019 12 03 Pro Life Anti Abortion Facts and Pro Life Arguments www priestsforlife org Retrieved 2019 12 03 Treadwell David 1989 06 25 Abortion Plaintiffs Now on Opposite Sides Similar Pasts Different Viewpoints for Roe Doe Los Angeles Times Retrieved 2019 12 03 Abortion Plaintiffs Now on Opposite Sides Similar Pasts Different Viewpoints for Roe Doe Los Angeles Times 1989 06 25 Retrieved 2019 12 03 a b c d e f g h i j Duin Julia 1997 01 22 Mary Doe feels she has blood on her hands Cano decries partial birth abortions link galegroup com Retrieved 2019 12 03 a b c d e Jane Doe s Story An Interview With Sandra Cano National Catholic Register 2006 10 25 Retrieved 2019 12 03 a b Abboud Carolina 2017 11 29 Doe v Bolton 1973 The Embryo Project Encyclopedia embryo asu edu Retrieved 2019 12 03 a b c Cassidy Harold 2017 02 23 Remembering Jane Roe and Mary Doe The Courage of Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano Public Discourse Retrieved 2019 12 04 Pro Life Anti Abortion Facts and Pro Life Arguments www priestsforlife org Retrieved 2019 12 04 Curriden Mark 1989 DOE VS BOLTON Mary Doe has a change of heart pickets abortion clinics ABA Journal 75 7 26 ISSN 0747 0088 JSTOR 20760563 a b Abortion Plaintiff Daughter Reunited Los Angeles Times 1989 12 10 Retrieved 2019 12 04 U S high court firm on 73 abortion case UPI NewsTrack October 11 2006 Doe v Bolton American Life League 2017 09 05 Retrieved 2019 12 04 a b Sandra Cano the Mary Doe of landmark abortion case dies The Washington Times Retrieved 2019 12 04 a b c d Parker Bound4Life Allan Mary Doe of Doe v Bolton Why Her Life Matters Now More Than Ever Charisma News Retrieved 2019 12 04 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Statement of Sandra Cano The Former Mary Doe of Doe V Bolton on the 40th Anniversary of Roe and Doe Christian Newswire christiannewswire com Press release Retrieved 2019 12 04 a b FRC Supports TV Campaign Featuring Former Pro Abortion Leaders PR Newswire January 14 2002 External links editSandra Cano speaking at the 1998 March for Life C SPAN Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sandra Cano Mary Doe amp oldid 1177108168, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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