Norma McCorvey, who passed away Saturday, didn’t go see attorney Sarah Weddington out of any desire to legalize abortion. She literally went to see her because she was hungry. They met together in a pizza parlor. Norma didn’t even know the meaning of the word “abortion.”
She never got the help she was seeking for her third pregnancy, and ended up making an adoption plan for the baby girl who was born. She never appeared in court, and she found out about the outcome of Roe vs. Wade like everyone else did — in the morning paper.
Having been exploited by the Roe attorneys, she was then used as a poster child by the abortion industry. At first anonymous, she eventually came out with a book, I am Roe, revealing her identity. And she eventually started working in an abortion clinic in Dallas. Working there made her realize that the clinic wasn’t about helping women, but about making a profit.
Norma was a very simple and straightforward woman. When mothers came into the clinic for an abortion, she asked them if they fully understood what they were about to do to their child. And when they said they did not know, she explained it to them. Norma was surprised that this got her into trouble with her boss. She felt that if a woman was going to make a choice, she had a right to know what she was choosing. But she learned that the abortion industry was more interested in a sale than an informed choice. And she became disillusioned with the profiteers of abortion.
Then she began flirting with the truth, a little here and a little there. She listened to my good friend, Rev. Flip Benham, ask in all humility for her to forgive him any unkind things he had said to her, and thus she allowed her stereotype of pro-life people as “self-righteous” to crumble. She was learning something new. And little by little, truth drew her in and proved itself more attractive than the abortion industry.
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She listened to a little girl invite her to come to Church, and finally (after many invitations) thought it would do no harm to check it out. She was impressed at the service, and when invited to give her life to Christ, did so willingly. And she learned more. She was baptized by Rev. Flip Benham, and became a believer.
At the beginning, however, she still thought some early abortion would be acceptable. She was open to truth, however, and truth did not let her go. It drew her further, and she quickly became convinced that abortion is wrong at any stage, no matter what the reason. She even began wearing a tee-shirt at pro-life gatherings that said “100% Pro-life, Without Exception, Without Compromise, Without Apology.”
As my relationship with her developed over subsequent years, I noticed her interest in Catholicism. Shortly after her baptism, she asked me to bless her home. (Not being used to the custom of Holy Water, she and her friend inadvertently drank the entire spare supply I left with them.) She attended with interest a Mass I celebrated in Dallas, and the following summer came with me to EWTN to tape a television interview. In the course of that interview, she asked me to bless the cross she wears, a cross which was made out of what used to be a pro-choice bracelet.
Norma also asked me to teach her to say the Rosary. As we continued to talk about her faith, I realized she felt very strongly the call to fully embrace Catholicism. I simply answered her questions, which she raised in her own time and her own way. Then one day she sent me an email in which she told me that “The Big Boss” told her she was to join the Church. I was privileged to confirm her in the Catholic Faith in 1998.
Norma journeyed from truth to truth. And now, she has encountered the fullness of truth in the life to come. At this juncture, as we who knew her say goodbye to her and as many who never heard of her learn her story for the first time, can we not hope that Norma’s life and death will help our nation on its journey to truth? This moment can be one more step forward in America’s realization that Roe vs. Wade has never been, nor can it ever be, a solution to our problems, but rather that the only proper response to Roe vs. Wade is the response that Roe herself ultimately had to it.
Find out more about Norma and her journey at www.priestsforlife.org/Norma.
LifeNews.com Note: Father Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.
