Norma McCorvey, left, was 22, unmarried, unemployed and pregnant for the third time when in 1969 she sought to have an abortion in Texas, where the procedure was illegal except to save a woman's life.
The subsequent lawsuit, known as Roe v Wade, led to the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling that established abortion rights, though by that time Ms McCorvey had given birth and given her daughter up for adoption.
She later converted to become an evangelical Christian and joined the pro-life movement saying her part in the legalisation of abortion "was the biggest mistake of my life".
Ms McCorvey died at an assisted living centre in Katy, Texas surrounded by her family.
Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, she remained an ardent supporter of abortion rights and worked for a time at a Dallas women's clinic where abortions were performed.
But in 1998 she told the Associated Press: "I'm 100% pro-life. I don't believe in abortion even in an extreme situation. If the woman is impregnated by a rapist, it's still a child. You're not to act as your own God."
She formed her own group, Roe No More Ministry, and travelled around the country speaking out against abortion.
In 2005, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by Ms McCorvey to the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling.
In May 2009, she was arrested on trespassing charges after joining more than 300 anti-abortion demonstrators when President Barack Obama spoke at the University of Notre Dame.
