Roe Anniversary Event Features Attorney Sarah Weddington

On January 22, 2009, Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood (UHPP) will launch its 75th Anniversary year with a larger than usual celebration of the 36th Anniversary of Roe v Wade. The private event will have as its featured speaker Sarah Weddington, author, advocate and attorney who argued the Roe case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. The agency will also unveil its 75th Anniversary logo and announce plans for a series of special events and activities to take place over the coming year.

"UHPP is excited to be celebrating such an important milestone in our history," stated UHPP President/CEO Patricia McGeown. "From its earliest days of providing birth control education to women and families seeking a method for spacing their children, to our current provision of affordable, professional reproductive health care services and award winning programs to reduce teen pregnancy, UHPP has responded to the needs of each generation. Through massive picketing, threats to the safety of patients and staff, outlandish accusations and propaganda, evictions and budget cuts, we have and will continue to stand strong in our commitment to protect the right of women and families to reproductive health and choice."

Sarah Weddington was 27 years old in 1973, when she argued the winning side of the landmark case Roe v. Wade before the United States Supreme Court. She is thought to be the youngest woman ever to win a case in the Supreme Court.

"I was part of a group of graduate students at University of Texas at Austin, where, like at many other schools, we were gathering information about abortion providers both in places where abortion was legal - like California and New York - and also in places where it wasn't legal, like Mexico and Texas," she explained in 2003 interview for Times Magazine. "When people called for information on providers, we wanted to give them the names of the safest places. We wanted to distribute the provider information to the newspapers, but we were worried that we might be charged as accomplices in abortions - which was an actual threat back then - if we spread the word. When I went to the library, to see exactly where the laws stood, I started finding cases challenging the anti-abortion statutes in various states, including the Griswold case. And we decided we would file a lawsuit challenging the Texas statutes. Lots of people ask me why the case fell to me. It's because this group decided we wanted a woman to take it, and we also wanted someone who'd do it for free."

After arguing Roe v. Wade, Weddington was elected to three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. She also served as assistant to President Jimmy Carter from 1978 to 1981. She is now a speaker, attorney and adjunct professor of pre-law at the University of Texas at Austin.

McGeown and Weddington will speak to media representatives at a press conference scheduled for 3:00pm at 74 State in Albany.

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Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood is a community-based non-profit organization providing advocacy, education and medical services for reproductive health care in the capital region since 1934. The agency provided health care services to 11,000 patients at health centers located in Albany, Columbia, Greene and Rensselaer Counties and presented over 500 education programs reaching over 7,000 youth and young adults in 2007. UHPP services are delivered with special concern for the underserved.