When the nine Supreme Court justices convene in their imposing marble courtroom this Wednesday, more than 100 reporters will be there to record their every word, study every facial expression, scrutinize any perceived change in body language. The hourlong session is the only part of the court's procedure carried out in public, and the journalists and small crowd of spectators will be searching for clues -- however, speculative -- that the court is leaning toward changing the law on abortion. No justice will be more carefully analyzed than Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the country's highest court. With her male colleagues believed to be deadlocked 4 to 4 on abortion, O'Connor could be the pivotal voice in the current case. "If Justice O'Connor wants to continue protecting abortion rights, they will be protected," says Prof. Walter Dellinger of Duke University Law School. "If she does not, they will not. It is her decision."

Through a quirk of timing, the first woman justice in the 200-year-old history of the Supreme Court may be in a position to settle the most controversial women's issue of the modern era. Since President Reagan appointed O'Connor eight years ago, her role in many divisive issues -- thanks in part to the arrival of two additional conservatives -- has evolved from that of habitual dissenter to that of frequent swing voter. Now she has become the focal point in the public's battle to influence the court's first critical abortion ruling in 16