This week marks the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Organizations across the country are holding events to commemorate the historic court battle.

In Wichita, Dr. George Tiller's abortion clinic offered free abortions to women in their first trimesters that could otherwise not afford them.

Early Saturday morning, more than 200 abortion protesters gathered in front of the clinic to protest the abortions. Michele Herzoc was among the group of protesters. She says she wants to offer help to women who don't know what they're getting themselves into.

In the past, protests like this have caused tension and confrontation. That's why this year, at the request of Dr. Tiller, clinic supporters are not rallying. Clinic employees issued a release stating they hope this day will draw attention to increasing pressure placed on right to choose and the threat of reproductive freedom in the state of Kansas.

Later this week, pro-life supporters plan to hold several rallies in honor of Roe v. Wade.

Extended Web Coverage

Roe vs. Wade

About the Ruling

• It created a new, basic constitutional right for women in the right to privacy that the Supreme Court had created only a few years earlier. That right to privacy was "broad enough to encompass a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy."

• It authorized no legal restrictions on abortion in the first three months.

• Abortion was allowed until birth if one licensed physician judged it necessary for the mother’s "health."

• Declares that states may restrict or ban abortions in the last trimester as the fetus nears the point where it could live outside the womb. In this trimester a woman can obtain an abortion despite any legal ban only if doctors certify it is necessary to save her life or health.

  About the Case

• Jan. 22, 1973, 25-year-old, Norma McCorvey challenged the criminal abortion laws in Texas.

• McCorvey first filed the case in 1969. She was pregnant with her third child and claimed she was raped, but the case was rejected and she was forced to give birth. In 1987, McCorvey announced that her rape testimony was false.

• In 1973, McCorvey filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Source: A collection of Web Reports contributed to this report.