NORMA McCorvey is the woman behind one of the most controversial rulings in the history of the United States — one that could now be reversed if Donald Trump gets his way.

The argument over rolling back the law she helped create, legalising abortion across America, is dividing the country once more. It’s a highly personal and emotional topic that stokes fierce emotion on both sides.

In 1969, Norma was pregnant with her third child in Texas, where it was illegal to terminate a pregnancy unless the woman’s life was at risk. She could not afford to travel to another state to have a termination, and tried unsuccessfully to have an illegal abortion. She was referred to lawyers looking for pregnant women seeking abortions, and her case took three years, during which time Norma gave birth and put the baby up for adoption.

Known in court documents under the pseudonym Jane Roe, Norma won her landmark with the help of lawyer Sarah Weddington.

In the 1973 ruling of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that Texan laws violated Norma’s privacy, thus creating a new abortion law at a federal level.

The ruling changed the landscape for women across the nation. Norma eventually revealed her true identity and became a figurehead for women’s rights in the 1980s.

But there was a twist. She later swapped sides, becoming a born-again Christian and pro-life activist.

Norma died in February 2017, with the law she helped create — one that meant so much to so many women — still intact. Now, it could come undone.

WHY ABORTION LAW IS BACK ON THE AGENDA

In late June, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his resignation from the Supreme Court, effective from next Tuesday. While broadly conservative, the 82-year-old was often the swing vote on issues such as abortion and gay rights, joining the liberal majority.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump named Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee to replace Justice Kennedy. Judge Kavanaugh is believed to be more hostile towards abortion than his predecessor. If elected, he may give the Supreme Court the numbers it needs to overturn the Roe v Wade decision.

Mr Trump has been openly anti-abortion, believing it should be outlawed barring exceptional circumstances.

Activists are deeply concerned this may come to pass, taking to the streets for protests supported by New York State governor candidate Cynthia Nixon, of Sex And The City fame.

If it is repealed, states will be able to make their own decisions on whether abortion is available.

Washington, Nevada, California, Maine, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Hawaii and Oregon already have laws that will mean it remains legal.

Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have clauses that will immediately make abortion illegal.

NORMA’S STORY

Norma’s upbringing, documented in a New York Times podcast, was traumatic. She was the unwanted child of divorced parents, dropped out of school by the age of 15, became a homeless thief and was sent to reform school. Growing up, she was repeatedly raped by a relative before marrying at 16, divorcing and enduring suicidal bouts of depression.

Norma, who was bisexual but preferred women, worked as a cleaner, waitress and carnival worker, and turned to alcohol and drugs to escape the misery of poverty.

She had already had two children by two different men, and given them up both times, when she fell pregnant by another partner. This time, she wanted an abortion.

Norma’s case was argued at the Supreme Court twice — in December 1971 and again in October 1972, before the final decision on January 22, 1973. The defendant was Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade. The 7-2 decision stated that the Constitution’s right of privacy was “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy”.

Justice Harry Blackmun wrote: “The detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice altogether is apparent.”

But the court disagreed with the idea that a woman was “entitled to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses”, ruling that states could not regulate abortions in the first trimester of pregnancy but could choose to impose regulations after that.

Unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight at 22, Norma became a star of the women’s rights movement. When she identified herself a decade later, strangers spat at her and screamed “baby killer,” fired bullets through her windows and sent her death threats.

Tugged in both directions, she eventually converted and became a staunch opponent of Roe v Wade, testifying in Congress and attacking Barack Obama.

“I wasn’t the wrong person to become Jane Roe,” Norma wrote in her 1989 book I Am Roe. “I wasn’t the right person to become Jane Roe. I was just the person who became Jane Roe, of Roe v Wade. And my life story, warts and all, was a little piece of history.”

HIGH-STAKES BATTLE

Since the ruling, around 50 million legal abortions have been performed in the US, although widely available contraceptives reduced their frequency.

Roe v Wade has remained contentious, and has been watered down over the years. In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that states can regulate abortion unless doing so places “an undue burden” on women.

In 2007, the court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, prohibiting a form of late termination. It was the first nationwide ban on an abortion procedure since Roe v Wade.

But in 2016, the Supreme Court issued a 5-3 decision in defence of abortion, vetoing rules introduced in Texas that required doctors who perform abortions to have privileges at local hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital standards for outpatient surgery.

Now, Americans are waiting for a decision on Judge Kavanaugh by the Senate, with the Democrats demanding to see his lengthy paper trail before they begin meeting him. Republicans, meanwhile, want him voted in before the midterms in November.

Anti-abortion leaders see this as their big chance, and are out in force canvassing US citizens to insist their senators vote him in.

It’s not just women’s rights supporters who are nervous about the potential appointment. Gay activists fear Judge Kavanaugh would vote down LGBT issues, with the judge’s writings in favour of presidential authority suggesting he could uphold Mr Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, currently blocked by lower courts.

Removing the last barrier between the erratic President and his extreme ideas may also mean other controversial Trump policies are voted through.

Right now, it is women who stand to lose the most.

“Brett Kavanaugh was chosen because conservatives are confident that he would overturn Roe v Wade,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said on the night of his nomination.

It’s a dark thought that most will be powerless to stop.