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Blackmun Papers Detail Road to 'Roe'

Listen: <b>Web Extra:</b> Blackmun Reflects on 'Roe v. Wade'

Listen: <b>Web Extra:</b> Blackmun on the Possibility that 'Roe v. Wade' Would be Overturned

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First Draft of 'Roe v. Wade'

The first page of Blackmun's May 18, 1972, first draft opinion in Roe v. Wade.

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Library of Congress

The collected papers of the late Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, author of the Roe v. Wade decision, detail how Blackmun came to write the critical decision — even though he was the court's most junior justice at the time. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

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