"Justice Blackmun ended up relying for most of his legal history on the novel historical theories of Cyril Means, the general counsel of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL). Weddington and Hames expressly urged the Court, at least three times, to read Means’s articles. Weddington subsequently reported that the Justices had copies of Means’s articles on the bench during the argument. Beasley specifically denied the accuracy of Means’s historical theories, but no Justice questioned them, and they became an essential pillar of Justice Blackmun’s opinion in Roe. Mean’s historical claims-which are explored in greater depth in chapter 6-were completely unprecedented. They were disputed at the time, and legal and historical scholarship has since definitively refuted them, but they had a decisive impact on the Justice’s questions, deliberations, and final opinions in the abortion cases."