Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant, "Mary Doe" of "Doe v. Bolton", Sandra Cano
By Allan E. Parker, Jr.
Sandra Cano went to be with her beloved Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, on September 30, 2014, at approximately 7:00 a.m. (eastern time). She was a dedicated, born-again Christian who loved Jesus and believed in Him for her salvation.Prayers for Sandra, and for her loved ones.Sandra was the former "Doe" of Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade. I have had the blessing and honor of knowing her and representing her for 14 years. I first met Sandra Cano by telephone on February 11, 2000, when she called to ask The Justice Foundation to represent her as a friend of the court (an Amicus Curiae) in the case of Donna Santa Marie. Donna Santa Marie was a 16 yr. old girl who had been forced by her parents to have an abortion against her will. Sandra was trying to help her recover against the abortionist for the wrongful death and loss of her child. She became a prolife warrior. Click here to see her website.
I told her that we would be happy to represent her and that I felt the Lord had called us also to collect the testimony of women hurt by abortion and to take her case and the case of Norma McCorvey, the former "Roe" of Roe v. Wade, back to the U.S. Supreme Court to annul those decisions. She said she lived for that day. She said the Doe v. Bolton decision had been a "doom on her shoulders" ever since it was decided. She poured out a story of unprecedented fraud and deception on the court in her case. She never wanted an abortion at all. She thought her lawyers were going to help her get her children back, because they had been taken away by the State of Georgia. When she was pregnant, someone else wanted an abortion for her. In fact, Sandra fled to Oklahoma during the pendency of her case, Doe v. Bolton, to avoid being forced to have an abortion under Georgia's liberal "therapeutic" abortion law which allowed three doctors to grant an abortion if a woman's health was involved. Her case created the "health" exception. Click here to read Sandra's testimony before the U.S. Senate.
Sandra was a woman of amazing courage and eloquence far beyond the few years of her formal education. She fought as a pro-se litigant at first in 1988, to unseal the records and prove that she was the "Mary Doe" of Doe v. Bolton and that she never wanted an abortion. She did not want the world to think that she ever wanted abortion...But she also grew to understand women's pressures and circumstances as we worked with her to collect thousands of testimonies from women hurt by abortion.
She was elegant and courageous - even appearing on the Huffington Post to defend the prolife position. She also appeared in the documentary "The Gift of Life" narrated by Mike Huckabee.
Sandra filed a Rule 60 motion in 2003 to reverse her own case. Click here to read her affidavit detailing this fraud and deception on the Supreme Court. The District Court held the motion under advisement for 18 months until 2005 and then ruled against Sandra. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and in 2006; the Court declined to take the case.
However, on April 18, 2007, Sandra Cano's name appears in the Opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court on the side of Life. The Court upheld a pre- and post-viability ban on partial birth abortions. Her name shall be forever remembered as a Champion for Life and the Supreme Court cited her brief with 180 Women Hurt by Abortion twice as follows:
"While we find no reliable data to measure the phenomenon, it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained. See Brief for Sandra Cano, et al. as Amici Curiae in No. 05-380, pp. 22-24. [This is the TJF Brief citing the women's estimonies.] "Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow." See ibid.(emphasis added). "The State has an interest in ensuring so grave a choice is well informed." (emphasis added). Gonzalez v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007).Sandra also had a heart of compassion for the disabled. Her dying wish was to see an end of abortion and for the protection of her family, especially for her developmentally disabled grandchildren. Sandra was a woman of courage who in many respects had a hard life but never lost her faith in Jesus Christ.Even to the end, as she battled cancer, one of Sandra's last prolife activities was helping to defend North Dakota's ban on abortion after six weeks. Her arguments were based on Gonzales v. Carhart, in which her brief and that of 180 Women Hurt By Abortion, was twice cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. The testimonies of those 180 women on the Brief with Sandra and another 4,320 testimonies of abortion are an essential part of the North Dakota record and Sandra's Brief. In addition, Sandra argued that North Dakota's New Safe Haven Law eliminates the need for abortion after a human heartbeat is detected and meets women's child care needs without injuring women. Thus, HB 1456 does not constitute an "undue burden," since all "burden" of child care has been transferred from women to society; therefore, HB 1456 is constitutional under Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007). Click here to read Sandra's Brief.
Thus, her last public act shortly before her death was to argue that Safe Haven laws eliminate the burden of childcare and thus the need for abortion. She advocated for a better way: save the children, save the mothers, do justice.
Please join with Sandra in her last request, to pray for her family and the end of abortion in America.
posted by Annie at 9:16 PM
