Norma’s story is one of suffering.
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A New York Times profile on McCorvey discussed her dysfunctional family upbringing. Her father was a television repairman, her mother an alcoholic.
“My mom screamed, ‘What did a lesbian know about raising a child?’ I lost my child, and my home”, she told the AP in 1998. At the time, the state outlawed abortions except to save the life of the pregnant woman. After her initial court victory, Texas launched an appeal, and by the time the Supreme Court finally handed down its decision, McCorvey’s baby was 2 1/2 years old. She went by the pseudonym “Jane Roe”. “As far as we know, they raised her not knowing who she was and certainly never telling her”. “It isn’t black and white – it’s thousands of different shades of gray that exist somewhere in the middle”, Vox senior editor Sarah Kliff wrote in 2015 after a survey found that nearly 2 in 5 Americans identified as neither pro-life nor pro-choice or both. There is no meaningful middle ground.
The ruling allows for legal abortions during the entire pregnancy, but set up conditions to allow states to regulate abortion during the second and third trimesters. During that testimony, she acknowledged how wrong and broken she was and said she had experienced the power of God’s forgiveness, vowing she would devote the rest of her life “undoing the law that bears my name”. I ran outside and finally, it dawned on me. All I did was sign women into bondage and slavery.
After this heart change, she became a pro-life advocate and petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. At the time, she represented the struggles faced by ordinary women confronted with unwanted pregnancies.
McCorvey had admitted that she lied in the landmark case. “I’m certainly sorry she gave the opposition a tool to use against the case”.
“Norma suffered tremendously at the hands of those who cared more about the institution of abortion than this courageous woman’s life”, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life organization. “She will be greatly missed, and Americans United for Life mourns her passing”. The opinion, written by Judge Edith Jones, is, in our view, one of the most powerful of all the documents in the abortion cases.
“She was won by love”. When the decision came it failed to impact McCorvey directly.
McCorvey was a complicated symbol for the political fight over abortion rights. She needed personal relationship and healing. The landmark decision marked a milestone in women’s rights. They maintained their friendship throughout the years, with Norma traveling to Staten Island in 2013 to celebrate the 25 anniversary of Father Pavone’s ordination.
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There is a 46-year-old woman, born in Texas, who should be dead right now.
