The March for Life and Jane Roe

January 22, 2016

The March for Life and Jane Roe

The reason the national March for Life in Washington DC is on January 22, this Friday, is because that is the date of the Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton Supreme Court decisions in 1973 permitting abortion throughout pregnancy.

Much will be said and debated about these decisions, their legal ramifications, how the Court has weakened them over the years, and what the prospects are for the future.

But I want to take a moment to look at the people behind them, particularly the plaintiffs who won the cases. Know in the court as "Jane Roe" and "Mary Doe," their actual names are Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano.

I came to know them personally over the years and shared many personal and professional moments with them. Sandra passed away recently.

The fact that will come as a surprise to many is that neither one of these women was interested in making abortion legal. Though plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case that did exactly that, they both thought that the attorneys who got them involved in these cases were going to help them personally with their own children. Norma didn't even know what the word "abortion" meant, and only got together with the attorneys initially because she was hungry, and they were going to meet at a pizza shop. Sandra, meanwhile, upon hearing that an abortion had been scheduled for her in Atlanta, was so opposed to it that she fled to Oklahoma!

These women were manipulated for a cause in which they did not believe, used for a purpose that they did not desire.

And they suffered for years after the cases were decided and they realized that they had been used to unleash a holocaust. Not only did they eventually start speaking out against legal abortion, but they also attempted a legal procedure by which plaintiffs can go back to the court with a request to reverse the decision. The court did not listen.

Those who will March this Friday on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton know that so many throughout America are like Norma and Sandra, saddened by abortion, longing to see it end, grieving for the deaths of the children and for the healing of the mothers, fathers, and families. And they also know that the fact that the plaintiffs themselves did not buy into the court cases that they technically won is but one manifestation of the hollowness of the entire abortion industry and propaganda machine. It is an industry and a mindset that have to be constantly propped up by deception, smoke and mirrors, and hollow rhetoric devoid of the persuasive power of truth.

But marching in Washington on Friday will be countless people who have been captured by the truth, just as Norma and Sandra were. Both were followers of Christ, and in the case of Norma, I had the privilege of receiving her into the Catholic Church in 1998. In one of her books, she writes,

"I told Fr. Frank I would like to have my house blessed, and he readily agreed. "Do you happen to have any holy water?" he asked me. "No, how do we get some?" I responded. He asked me to fill a large container with water, and he blessed it. Then, after he sprinkled it around the house, he told me that I could use the large quantity of water to bless myself each day. This was wonderful, I thought. About a month later, I was on the phone with Fr. Frank and he asked me how my supply of holy water was holding up. "I need more," I told him, "but don't laugh at the reason why. My friend and I forgot it was holy water, and we drank it!" We've both laughed about that for years."

Together with the desire to see Roe vs. Wade reversed, the crowd in Washington on Friday is motivated by the desire to see people healed of the wounds of abortion, and reconciliation in the relationships destroyed by abortion. In this regard, too, Norma's journey is an inspiration. She writes about the day I received her into the Church,

I started getting cold chills right before I went up for my first Holy Communion. I knew somehow that it was Holy Spirit. Then when I received the flesh of Christ's body and his blood, I felt a real sense of inner peace. After Communion, Fr. Frank shared the following words that spoke directly to my heart:

"Norma, reflect carefully on what has happened now that you have received Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion.

"Our Faith teaches that by His Incarnation, the Son of God joined all humanity to Himself. In some fashion, every human being of all time is united to Him. This, of course, includes every human being in the womb, and includes those who were aborted.

"Today, you have received the very same flesh of the Son of God, to which all humanity has been joined. That means, Norma, that today, in giving you His Body, Jesus has also given you back all the babies that were aborted because of what you did. He has reunited to you all the children who never got to play in the playgrounds. He has restored them to you, closing the distance between you and them. He has reconciled them to you and given you peace.

"The first time I ever interviewed you, I started by saying, "So, you are the Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade." You responded, "No, Father, I was the Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade." Norma, those words were never more true than they are today. Amen."

During these remarks, I was sitting there crying. I knew I had been forgiven -- and to think I was reunited with those children…it was sorrow and joy at the same time. It was like having my own children come back to me all at one time. It was like seeing all their faces, even though I've never known them.

What a beautiful day, and what a beautiful ceremony. I think I was calmer that day than everyone else. I had peace, because I knew I had made the right decision.

As we march on Friday, and as we observe this sad anniversary in our own churches, communities and homes, let us resolve to pray and work for the day that America will make the right decision in regard to abortion, and begin protecting her weakest children and healing the wounds of this national holocaust.

 

 

Fr. Pavone is National Director of Priests for Life

 

 

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