March 6, 2003
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.- Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who successfully argued that women have a fundamental right to choose abortion, will speak on Thursday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m., in Johnson Chapel at Amherst College. This event is sponsored by the Amherst College Feminist Alliance, the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, the Association of Amherst Students, the Everywoman's Center at the University of Massachusetts and the Amherst College Lecture Fund and Student Activities Fund.


In 1973, at age 26, Weddington argued the winning side of the landmark Roe v. Wade case before the United States Supreme Court. She is thought to be the youngest woman ever to win a case in the Supreme Court.


Weddington, who in 1972 was the first woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives, served three terms before becoming the U.S. Department of Agriculture's General Counsel in 1977. She was the first woman to ever hold that position.


An assistant to the President of the United States from 1978 to 1981, she was designated by President Carter to direct the Administration's work on women's issues and leadership outreach.


Weddington is the author of A Question of Choice, which details the Roe v. Wade case. A law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, she also writes and travels extensively, speaking on women's issues and the development of leadership skills. She is currently working on her next book, on leadership and self-renewal.

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