Betrayal, Abandonment and Abuse
Almost thirty years have passed since unscrupulous feminist lawyers, determined to abolish the laws prohibiting abortion, picked her up, a desperate and destitute young woman, used her to push through Roe v. Wade, then spat her out again. Who could have guessed that this particular lost sheep, like the stone which the builders rejected, could have become the cornerstone of a pro-life ministry for women and a strong voice for the Catholic faith?
Once known as the ghostly nonentity, “Jane Roe” of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, Norma McCorvey today is Catholic and 100% pro-life. Preferring the Southern form of endearment — “Miss” — which parallels the Yankee honorary title of affection — “Auntie” — these women call themselves the “Southern Belles for Life.” Miss Norma and her volunteers, Miss Connie and Miss Annie, run the Roe No More Ministry for post-abortive women.
Her book, Won by Love (Published by Thomas Nelson, $19.99, 244 pages), gives the account of her life from the moment when Operation Rescue moved in next door to the abortion clinic where she worked to her conversion to Christianity and pro-life conviction. In the dedication of Won by Love, she writes: “This book is dedicated to all the children who have been torn apart by abortion — I'm sorry you are no longer here, but now you are in heaven with our Father — And to all the women who through abortion have had their lives changed — Amazing Grace can heal your heart, and you, too, can be won by love.”
Her life had been very sad, even tragic, until the advent of Amazing Grace. Barely escaping abortion in her own mother's womb, Miss Norma never had an abortion; her own three children were given up for adoption, though not always with Miss Norma's willing consent. Out of drug and alcohol addiction, from the loneliness of betrayal, abandonment and abuse, and out of the sordid horror of the abortion industry, she was delivered by love of Christ and of friends. Her life is the story of Grace and the acceptance of grace. And forgiveness. And love. And mission.
Baptized a Christian on August 8, 1995, Norma began the great journey of faith. The famous photo of her baptism shows a woman full of incredible joy, and the pastor, Flip Benham of Operation Rescue, equally joyous as he holds tightly to this infant Christian, soaking wet in the baptismal waters of a north Dallas swimming pool.
But the story about her conversion to Catholicism, on August 17, 1998, is even more fascinating.
The Interview
Canticle: Norma, could you please tell us what happened when you began to hear God talking to you at night after you became a Christian?
I pray when I can't sleep. It really works out to the Lord's advantage. (Even now, I wait to see if I'm getting a message from Him, then when I think it's time I start praying, then back to sleep I go!) Several years after my conversion, I started getting these messages: “My child, you are soon to be with me.” I thought for a couple of months that I was “truly” going home!
Then, one night I woke up with this: “My child, you are to come home to my Church, the Church that my Son founded for His Mother: the Roman Catholic Church!” I was so relieved!
What was your next step toward becoming Catholic?
I got in touch with Father Frank Pavone from Priests for Life and he sent me a book on how to say the rosary. After my first rosary I knew that I was on the right track. Then, I took further instruction from Father Ed Robinson, an 85-year-old pro-life warrior. I'd known Father Robinson from the priory (Saint Albert the Great Priory on the campus of the University of Dallas) where Operation Rescue had their Monday night meetings. I had gotten a crucifix and I wanted it blessed; so one Monday night I took it to him and asked if he could bless it for me!
Then as I would get things from different ones I would take them to him for his Blessings. I was so naive I asked him if he could take it to church and he said “why don't I just bless it here?” (in the refectory).
How do you begin your day, now?
I start each day with a prayer Father Robinson gave me:
Holy Spirit of God take me as thy disciple; guide me, instruct me, illuminate me. Bind my hands so that they will do no evil, cover my eyes that they may see evil no more, sanctify my heart that evil may not dwell within it. Be thou my guide: be thou my God. Wherever thou leadest me I shall go: whatever thou forbidest me I shall renounce, whatever thou commandest me in thy strength I shall do. Lead me then unto the fullness of thy truth. Amen!
How do you deal with your past involvement in abortion advocacy?
I can't make my past go away. It's already written in the history books. On Judgment Day, women will be able to point at me and say, “She was right beside me when I got my abortion and she did nothing to stop it.”
But my hope is the same as yours. I will not stand at the judgment seat of Christ alone, and neither will you. “We have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
Although I cannot make my past go away, I can do something that helps make amends. That is how I spend my time these days, working to preserve life, not destroy it.
When did you begin to change your pro-abortion views?
In the 1980s, I was driving down a street that I'd driven many times. I saw a school with an empty playground. For some reason on that day the empty playground was such a sad, sad sight! The still swings, the vacant slides, and the untouched monkey bars threw their emptiness into my soul. I realized that in an empty playground there might not be any fighting or spitting or crying, but there was also no laughter, no smiles, no giggling, no pretty little curls bobbing on top of a five-year-old's head. There were no songs, no games, no shouts of triumph. There was just nothing, nothing! And nothing suddenly seemed terribly frightening.
What happened then?
I pulled over to the curb and took a long look at that empty playground and a voice deep inside me said: “It's all your fault, Norma. You're the reason this playground — and playgrounds all across this country — are empty.” I felt so sad. I wanted to will it full of children, but I couldn't. I couldn't take my eyes off the playground and I couldn't drive my car. I don't have any idea how long I was there.
When did you become 100% pro-life?
It was some time after my baptism. I was working in Operation Rescue's office and saw a poster on the floor that showed basic fetal development from conception through delivery. I started looking at the faces of the babies and their eyes shook me. Their eyes were so sweet. It hurt my heart, just looking at these unborn children. I had worked with pregnant women for years and I'd been through three pregnancies and deliveries myself. Yet, something in that poster made me lose my breath. I kept seeing the picture of that tiny, ten-week-old embryo and I said to myself “That's a baby!” I finally understood the truth: That’s a baby!
What did you do when you came to this realization?
I wanted to run, which is what I always did when I faced difficult truths before I became a Christian, but I knew this time I had to change. I had to face up to the awful reality that abortion was not about “products of conception” or “missed periods.” It was about children being killed in their mothers' wombs. All those years, I'd been wrong. No more of this first-trimester, second-trimester, third-trimester stuff. Abortion, at any point, was wrong.
Roe No More
Could you tell us about the Roe No More Ministry, and how they are reaching out to help especially the post-abortive woman?
We have many woman and men who write to us and ask how they can deal with abortion. Some say that they (the women) still haven't told their husbands, pastors, priests about their abortions. We talk to them; we minister to them through snail mail, email, any way we can. We even go as far as calling them to get them to the right place in their hometowns for “on hand” counseling. Thank God for PCs!
Who helps you with the Roe No More Ministry?
Miss Connie is in charge of the post office mailing, the books, keeping me “grounded” in His ministry of Life. When I'm out of town she attends events and is a true representative of the ministry. Then there's Miss Annie; she answers the mail and files, makes phone calls, brings information and makes me laugh when times are rough! Father Robinson helps, also; he blesses the office, does really good electrical work, and supports us all here at Roe No More. He encourages us to do His work while here on earth! The Bishop's Pro-Life also supports our work. We all work together as one in Him!
Can you talk a little about the process of Post-Abortive healing and reconciliation?
First and foremost one must start by forgiving oneself, then asking God also for forgiveness! Then the “process” begins. The process of tears and grief. It's healthy to cry. That gets all the junk out to make room for the really good stuff. So many women and men are hurting and the Church is going to be beginning a National Campaign to bring them back to the Church and reconcile them with God, themselves and their children. When people who have been hurt by abortion are healed through programs like Project Rachel and Rachel's Vineyard (which include the sacrament of confession) they become the most amazing advocates for life.
What about forgiveness, for you and for others, especially women who have had abortions?
If God can forgive Norma McCorvey and her role in abortion, surely he can forgive you women who have had abortions. Like me, you will need to repent of what you have done, but you will receive the same peace and forgiveness that I now enjoy. You can't undo your abortion any more than I can undo all the things I've done to make and keep abortion legal, but we can be forgiven. We can also work to present the cause of life in the future. But to do that, we need to be healed, and healing always starts with forgiveness.
Can you say something about adoption?
For many, many years, I thought that the worst thing I'd ever done was to place my children for adoption (though one was placed against my will.) I thought I couldn't care for them and that was best at the time; but even so, I always thought of this as my greatest failure.
After I became 100% pro-life, I realized that placing a child for adoption could be an act of great courage. The real blight on my life was being “Jane Roe” and helping to bring legalized abortion to this country. The very thing I was most famous for on earth was the thing I would be most sorry for in heaven. The thing that brought me fame and notoriety, movie and book contracts — that thing was shameful. It was wrong. It was the worst thing I ever could have done.
You have contact with your natural daughter, Melissa, of the Roe v. Wade case?
Not contact, but love! With Melissa and her children, my granddaughters, Chloe and Jordan! Missy has always been very supportive of me; we love each other very much. But, Missy has always been pro-life! She's given me and Him two wonderful babies to love here on earth.
Our modern world demands that children should be quiet and not an inconvenience. What do you have to say about that?
A quiet world? What would this world be like if there weren't any children? If the only people left were grown-ups, with our adult problems and our adult decisions and our adult self-interest? What kind of world would that be?
What do you do to resist the “malice and snares” of the devil?
I rebuke him, the Evil One, and pray.
How are we going to change the minds of women in our time?
Point them to the Gospels, especially John 3:20 which says, “For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, that his deeds may not be exposed,” or John 4:13 — the story of the Samaritan woman at the well — “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. He, however, who drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up unto life everlasting.”
How can women learn to be mothers when they have no role models for their motherhood?
This is where the Blessed Virgin comes in; she can teach, love, and act for this woman and teach her on how to be a mother.
What would you want to say to young women of today?
Believe in Him who died for us! And believe that she, His mother, is a mother who lost her Son to save mankind. What a Blessing! We still have to learn, for we are mortals and are confused, the teachings of her Church! Take heed, all who want to know Him: even if you haven't known Him, you should for He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, in the most High! You see, I've found that, in God's world, love has no limits. In the world of abortion, limits determine life. There's not enough love … not enough time … not enough money … not enough housing. But in God's world, love grows, it doesn't fade. In God's world, time becomes eternal; we prepare our children for a world that will never end. In God's world, bills still need to be paid, but we need never face our obligations without faith. And as for housing, God is preparing a mansion for each of us to enjoy.
Final Note: the following was an open letter written by Miss Norma Leah Nelson McCorvey on the first anniversary of her reception into the Catholic Church:
I would like to thank all who have made me feel so “Welcomed” into the Catholic Church. I have had the best of both worlds [the Evangelical and the Catholic] and I'm truly Blessed for having such a large Family in Him. Family is so good, ( I've never known such happiness).
In His Peace,
Norma
This interview was taken from conversation with and the written words of Norma McCorvey. Genevieve Kineke is editor and publisher of Canticle Magazine, the Voice of Today's Catholic Woman.
Norma McCorvey is available for speaking engagements. You may write to her at the following address: Norma McCorvey, PO Box 550626, Dallas, Texas 75355.
