(Reuters) Norma McCorvey, the anonymous plaintiff known as Jane Roe in the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling legalizing abortion, died on  at the age of 69, a journalist close to McCorvey said.

McCorvey died on Saturday (Feb. 18) of heart failure at an assisted living home in Katy, Texas, Joshua Prager, a journalist who is writing a book about the decision, said in an email.

Her lawsuit, filed under the pseudonym Jane Roe, resulted in the court’s landmark decision that established a woman’s right to an abortion. The ruling has become the focus of a divisive political, legal and moral debate that has raged in the United States for decades.

(Reporting by Frank McGurty)