Who Was Norma McCorvey and What Did She Stand For?
Late last month, I listened to a two-part podcast series published by The Daily. The podcast went into depth about the origins of Roe v. Wade. I always knew from the beginning that abortion rights in the US were established based on the rulings in Roe v. Wade, but I never knew the details of who Jane Roe was.
Her name was Norma McCorvey. She had a troubled childhood growing up in Texas. At the young age of 14, she left her family and religion. Norma had a baby at 16 and gave her off to her mom. She then worked in a bar and was drinking a lot, and by the age of 21, she was pregnant two more times. During her second pregnancy, Norma was desperate for the abortion, but it was illegal in the state of Texas. As a teenage girl with unwanted pregnancies and without access to a safe abortion, she was in a vulnerable position. When she asked her doctor about abortion, he gave her a number for an adoption lawyer, trying to dissuade her.
Norma was connected with two female law graduates, Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who wanted to help her get an abortion and leagalize it throughout the country. She worked with them to take the issue up to the Supreme Court and quickly became a leader in the pro-choice movement. Norma challenged the constitutionality of the Texas abortion laws. They won the case ruling 7-2, creating a landmark case for women’s rights and a critical moment in time during the second wave of feminism. More women were questioning the gender roles created by society. They started to fight for their rights because they did not want to just stay at home and raise kids.
Norma worked at an abortion clinic in Texas after she won the case. An evangelical pastor moved next to the abortion clinic where she worked. The people in the congregation that he led were known as the “Rescurers” who attempted to “save” women from getting abortions. After some time, Norma became friendly with the pastor, Phillip Benham. They became very close, and Norma was converted in 1995 as a born-again Christian. She was baptized and did not want to embody the pro-choice cause; she was now pro-life. Norma believed that she was wrong and did not want to be a symbol of the pro-choice movement. This was a ground-breaking moment that caused confusion among feminists. Norma’s reasoning for this switch was that she felt guilty and sad when she was supporting the pro-choice movement and when she worked in the clinic. She claimed that God helped her see that what she did was wrong and made her regret her decision.
When I was listening to the podcast, I was utterly shocked when they explained her shift in viewpoints. I understand that people are allowed to change their mind and create different opinions, but the fact that Norma was a plaintiff in the most important legal case for the pro-choice movement and then she did not want to be tied to it at all made no sense to me. I’ve explored the web and learned that she said that she was paid to change her position and claimed this on her deathbed. They gave her money and told her what to say over the cameras. This to me is shocking, learning that such a powerful symbol of the abortion movement could just change in a heartbeat because of money. I feel that she was exploited by the evangelicals and money took the best of her. I recommend everyone to listen to the series on The Daily and let us know what you think about it.
Photo: By Lorie Shaull from St Paul, United States - Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) and her lawyer Gloria Allred on the steps of the Supreme Court, 1989, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113865930
