Summary
In 1973, a landmark decision was made in the US Supreme Court which made abortion legal. The late Sarah Weddington brought the case, even though she was fresh out of law school at the time. She spoke to Chloe Hadjimatheou in 2012. Sarah Weddington died in December 2021.
(Photo: Sarah Weddington pictured in 1979. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.0 | Hello and thank you for downloading witness history from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:46.0 | In the light of the news suggesting that the US Supreme Court may be about to overturn Roe versus Wade. We're going back to 1973 and the original decision |
| 0:57.3 | to make abortion legal in America. In 2012, Chloe Hadgemuthieu spoke to the late Sarah Wellington, one of the lawyers who brought the case. |
| 1:07.0 | It's December 1971, and in Texas a lawyer is preparing to present her very first case to the Supreme Court. |
| 1:15.6 | Sarah Weddington is just 26 years old, the youngest person ever to lead an argument in the highest |
| 1:21.8 | court of the land. |
| 1:23.0 | It was not so much that I was young that scared me. |
| 1:26.0 | It was that I didn't have much experience, |
| 1:29.0 | and the case was oh so important. The case, Sarah was |
| 1:34.2 | was preparing argued that women should have the right to choose |
| 1:36.9 | whether or not to continue with a pregnancy. In 1970s America it was |
| 1:41.6 | extremely difficult to get an abortion and in states like Texas where Sarah lived that included pregnancies that were the result of incest or rape. |
| 1:50.0 | Legal abortions were more readily available in New York and California, but for many women, including Sarah, that wasn't an option. |
| 1:58.0 | I'm one of the many, many women who had an abortion before it became legal and that certainly was a part of my determination |
| 2:06.7 | to be sure that no one would ever have to go through that. |
| 2:10.0 | Did that mean that you have to travel to an illegal clinic? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.