Miss Jane Roe, A Story of Death and a Story of Life

This past weekend, Norma McCorvey passed away at 69 years old.  She was one of the most influential people of the past 50 years in our nation, yet many won’t even recognize her name.  Her pseudonym, however, is known worldwide.  Norma was the “Jane Roe” of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in our country.  From the time that the initial court case was filed in 1970, until her recent death, Norma had a conflicted involvement in the abortion rights/ pro-life debates in our land.

A Story of Death

Norma came from a broken, dis-functional home.  During her teenage years, she suffered abuse, was in trouble with the law, and spent time in reform school.  At the age of 16, she was married.  At age 18, pregnant and afraid, she moved home to her mother and had her first child.  Her mother ended up raising that child.  Within the next two years, Norma had a second child, which she gave up for adoption.  By the time she was 22, she was a heavy drinker, unemployed, and pregnant again.  She claimed to have been raped in order to perhaps qualify for an abortion.  Eventually, she was referred to two lawyers who were looking for such a case– a desperate, pregnant woman who wanted to terminate her pregnancy.

After several meetings with her lawyers, that Norma says she attended for the free pizza and beer, Norma signed the affidavit.  Norma then went on with her life.  She never entered a courtroom and never testified.  She gave her third child up for adoption.  Three years later, Miss Jane Roe read in the papers, along with the rest of the country, that the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of Roe v Wade.   Norma McCorvey, still known to the world only as “Jane Roe”, would from then on be tied to the abortion debate in this country.

In the early 80’s, Norma revealed herself as Jane Roe.  She became more actively involved in the Pro-Choice movement.  She still believed that “terminating a pregnancy” meant removing some tissue.

In the early 90’s she worked at abortion clinics and continued her abortion advocacy.

Since the legalization of abortion through Roe v Wade, there have been an estimated 59,000,000 abortions in our country.

This is Jane Roe’s connection to a story of death.

A Story of Life

In the mid-90’s, as Norma was working at an abortion clinic, she began to have interactions with a pro-life group that moved in next door.  While there were initially some conflicts, eventually friendship and a mutual exchange of ideas formed between Norma and the pro-life group.  She became aware of fetal development and she began to see abortion differently.  In her second book, “Won by Love,” she says…

Abortion wasn’t about ‘products of conception’. It wasn’t about ‘missed periods’. It was about children being killed in their mother’s wombs. All those years I was wrong. Signing that affidavit, I was wrong. Working in an abortion clinic, I was wrong. No more of this first trimester, second trimester, third trimester stuff. Abortion—at any point—was wrong. It was so clear. Painfully clear.^[3]

Norma also became a Christian.  She was baptized by a friend from the anti-abortion group “Operation Rescue”, but eventually joined the Roman Catholic Church.  Her zeal and advocacy switched from defending a women’s right to choose an abortion to promoting the pro-life cause.  She spent much of her efforts trying to overturn the legislation that bore her name through her new group, Roe No More.

 

This is Jane Roe’s connection to a story of life.

 

Another Story of Death and Life

In reading Norma’s life story, I was struck by how her spiritual path paralleled her activist path.  She (like all of us) had a spiritual story of death and a spiritual story of life.  For almost 50 years of her physical life, Norma was spiritually dead.  Then, God opened her eyes, and quickened her spiritually, and she became alive to God.  She was born-again.  A story of death overcome by a story of life.

As I considered her life in light of her recent death, I was thankful that the pro-life activists who opened shop next door to the abortion clinic where Norma worked were loving and kind to her.  Many weren’t.  She revealed that she had people yell at her and harass her in public places.  She had shots fired at her house.  Some who bore the name “pro-life” forgot that Jane Roe also represented a life.  But, Jesus didn’t forget.  Norma McCorvey was precious to him.

I also feel great, overwhelming grief that the 59,000,000 abortions performed in this country since Roe v Wade represent not only 59,000,000 people that are missing from our land, but also 59,000,000 times that a woman found herself in the situation of being pregnant and not feeling able to continue with the pregnancy.  That statistic is heartbreaking.  Some of that number will be because of rape and abuse.  Some will be because of poverty.  Some will be to keep sexual activities secret.  Some will be for reasons of health. Some for jobs, education, or careers. Some will be because the fathers of those children were unwilling to continue to be fathers.  So many reasons.  But, each of those decisions was made from a place of struggle, anguish, and desperation.

As the debate about abortion continues, it will continue without one major contributor to both sides of the issue– Norma McCorvey/ Jane Roe.

After so many years of internal and external struggles in this world, dear Norma, I pray that now you truly Rest In Peace with your Savior.

References:

Norma McCorvey wrote two books, available through Amazon and elsewhere:

I am Roe

Won by Love

These sources were used in this article:

Wikipedia Bio of Norma McCorvey

Endroe.org — Bio of Norma McCorvey

Live Action News story of Norma Mccorvey

Jane Roe in her own words — DallasNews.com

 

With Joy,

Kathleen