McCorvey was 21, financially unstable, and pregnant for the third time in 1969 when she went looking for an abortion, according to her memoir . Instead, she got the names of two lawyers: Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee . As a low-income woman who couldn't pay to get an abortion across state lines or do it illegally, McCorvey became the perfect plaintiff for their class action lawsuit against defendant Henry Wade — Dallas’s district attorney — which challenged Texas laws that criminalized abortion at the time. (Surprisingly to many, McCorvey never had the abortion. She carried that pregnancy to term, and gave the child up for adoption.)