Linda Coffee

Coffee earned a Bachelor of Arts in German from Rice University in 1965 followed by a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Texas in February 1968. She was licensed to practice in Texas three months later, in May 1968.[4]

Coffee was born into a Southern Baptist family. She met her partner in winter 1983 in response to a personal ad.[5]

Once she graduated from law school she worked for the Texas Legislative Council.[1] The Texas Legislative Council does research for the Texas legislature.[6] Coffee was also a clerk for Sarah Hughes, who was a federal judge in Texas.[1] Coffee was a member of the Women's Equity Action League, an organization working toward equal employment opportunities for women. She and Weddington agreed to take McCorvey's case to challenge Texas' anti-abortion law.

The Court's decision was ultimately handed down in January 1973, overturning Texas’ abortion law by a 7-2 majority and legalizing abortion within the first trimester of pregnancy.[7] After Roe, Coffee worked on bankruptcy cases.[1]

Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington argued in favor of Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe, and her right to have an abortion in the case Roe v Wade. Although Weddington is more well known for this case, Coffee was the one that came in contact with Norma McCorvey.[1] This was a landmark decision because it enabled women to have an abortion in their first trimester and because it overturned current federal and state laws regarding abortion.[8] It was argued that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion because of the Fourteenth Amendment.[9] The challenged Texas law only permitted abortion only if it was medically necessary to save the life of the woman.[9] Coffee came up with the name Jane Roe.