Ethics & Religion
Feb. 23, 2017
Column #1,852
Norma McCorvey: Roe of Roe v. Wade
By Mike McManus

Last Saturday Norma McCorvey, better known as "Jane Roe" of the infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case legalizing abortion - died of heart failure at age 69.

In 1969 Norma McCorvey was 22, pregnant and unwed when she approached an attorney about wanting an abortion - then prohibited in Texas. She had already given birth to two children who were adopted and did not want another. She said she had been gang-raped, which she later confessed was untrue.

A lawsuit was filed with a pseudonym, "Jane Roe," a case decided by the Supreme Court: Roe v. Wade. (Henry Wade was Dallas District Attorney.) In 1973 the Supreme Court legalized abortion by stating that "Any woman is entitled to an abortion at her request if she is able to find a medical adviser willing to undertake the procedure."

Result: 58 million abortions!

Ironically, Norma McCorvey did not have an abortion! She also gave that child up for adoption who was aged 4 when Roe v. Wade was decided.

For years she worked in abortion clinics, believing that women should have the right to choose abortion, if desired. In 1982 she explained, "I was glad to know some other poor woman wouldn't have to go through what I did - seeing kids walking and wondering which one was hers."

Remarkably, she later became pro-life!

Operation Rescue opened an office next to the abortion clinic where she worked. It was led by Pastor Flip Benham, who met Norma. She was stunned by Flip's gentle, Christ-like love. She thought pro-lifers were hateful and mean. He opened his big Bible, and gently led her to accept Jesus as her Savior. He baptized her August 8, 1995.

Although Flip was not pastoring a church, he invited Norma to Metroplex Chapel in Euless, Texas near Dallas. She drove to the church but was afraid to enter, not knowing how Christians would respond to her, given her identification with abortion. Fearfully, she drove around the church three times, trying to get the courage to enter.

She saw Flip at the front door, waiting for her, and parked her car. With her and Flip's permission, Dr. Jim Garlow, the pastor, introduced her at the end of the service, telling the congregation that she was "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade, who had come to Christ and had experienced forgiveness of her sins. "I asked her to stand. She did. The crowd erupted in an extended standing ovation," he recalls. "She was shocked. She did not expect that."

After the service, nearly the entire congregation formed an extremely long line to give her a hug and welcome her into the family of God. "Norma McCorvey had not only experienced the love and forgiveness of Jesus. She had now experienced the love and forgiveness of the body of Christ - the church. It was an exhilarating day for us all," Garlow recalls.

She later made a pro-life TV ad in which she said, "You read about me in history books, but now I am dedicated to spreading the truth about preserving the dignity of all human life from natural conception to natural death."

Her life took another unexpected turn in the spring of 1998. She met Father Frank Pavone, who leads "Priests for Life." Her mother was Catholic and sometimes took her to church. She asked him, "Is there a born-again Catholic?"

"Absolutely," he replied. "In Baptism we have a new life in Christ." She asked him how to say the rosary, and he thought, "Wow, she will become Catholic!"

Some months later, she told him she had a dream. "Father, it seemed that God was saying `You will be with me soon. I want you to come home.' Was God saying that I am going to die pretty soon?" She asked.

Father Pavone replied, "I don't know. Ask Him. God will let you know." A few weeks later, she told Father Pavone, "I know the answer to the dream. I was meant to become a Catholic!"

That's great news! Wonderful!" he responded. She took instruction in the Catholic faith, and made her second conversion.

For two decades, Norma McCorvey "has been a tremendous encouragement to pro-life leaders, and spoken to vast numbers," Pavone told me. She appeared on EWTN, the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network, which sparked hundreds of speaking invitations.

She helped create "Silent No More," which is a healing network for those who have had an abortion, and need healing from that pain. Women share their stories of recovery.

Norma McCorvey, the person behind Roe v. Wade, converted twice to become a pro-life heroine!

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Official Website for Norma McCorvey: http://www.endroe.org

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Copyright (c) 2017 Michael J. McManus, a syndicated columnist and past president of Marriage Savers. For previous columns go to  www.ethicsandreligion.org. Hit Search for any topic.