Norma McCorvey

Norma Leah McCorvey (née Nelson born September 22, 1947 in Simmesport, Louisiana) is best known as "Jane Roe" in the landmark Roe v. Wade lawsuit in which a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognized abortion as a Constitutional right, overturning individual states' laws against abortion, and who later recanted her previous support of abortion.

Background
The case took three years to reach the United States Supreme Court. In the meantime, McCorvey had given birth. At the time of the case, she claimed her pregnancy was the result of rape; she now claims that to be untrue.

McCorvey went public with her identity in the 1980s. McCorvey now claims she became the "pawn" of two young and ambitious lawyers (Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee) who were looking for a plaintiff whom they could use to challenge the Texas state law prohibiting abortion. In her 1994 autobiography, "I am Roe," she wrote of her sexuality. For many years she lived quietly in Dallas with her long-time partner Connie Gonzales. "We're not like other lesbians, going to bars," she said in a New York Times interview. "We're lesbians by ourselves. We're homers." McCorvey now considers herself a "reformed lesbian".

Conversion
At a signing of her first book in 1994, McCorvey was confronted by pro-life activist Flip Benham. Within a year, McCorvey converted to Christianity in 1995. On August 8, she was baptized by Benham in a Dallas backyard swimming pool that was filmed for national television. On August 10 of that year, she announced that she had become an advocate of the pro-life movement (specifically, "Operation Rescue"), fighting to make abortion illegal.

She wrote in her book, Won by Love, "I was sitting in O.R.'s offices when I noticed a fetal development poster. The progression was so obvious, the eyes were so sweet. It hurt my heart, just looking at them. I ran outside and finally, it dawned on me. "Norma," I said to myself, "They're right." I had worked with pregnant women for years. I had been through three pregnancies and deliveries myself. I should have known. Yet something in that poster made me lose my breath. I kept seeing the picture of that tiny, 10-week-old embryo, and I said to myself, that's a baby! It's as if blinders just fell off my eyes and I suddenly understood the truth--that's a baby!

I felt "crushed" under the truth of this realization. I had to face up to the awful reality. 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." In 1998, she released a statement that affirmed her entrance into the Roman Catholic Church, and she has been confirmed into the Church as a full member.

In 2005, she petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 decision, arguing that the case should be heard again in light of evidence that the procedure may harm women, but this petition was denied.

Despite her asking for an abortion during her case, McCorvey never had the procedure. She gave birth to a girl, who was given up for adoption. This was due to the fact that contested (and sometimes uncontested) court cases take longer than nine months for decisions to be handed down.

Books

 * I Am Roe (1994) ISBN 0-06-017010-7 ISBN 0-06-092638-4
 * Won by Love (1998) ISBN 0-7852-7237-2 ISBN 0-7567-7332-6

Information about McCorvey via religious sites

 * Roe No More Ministry
 * 'Jane Roe' Rethinks and Norma McCorvey's conversion to Catholicism
 * Flip Benham baptizes Norma McCorvey
 * Poignant tale of key conversion (Review of Won by Love by Fr. Ted Colleton)
 * Fr. Frank Pavone interviews McCorvey
 * http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0474_Roe__v._Wade.html

Norma McCorvey ノーマ・マコービー