Norma McCorvey ("Jane Roe")

In 1970, under the pseudonym "Jane Roe" ," filed a law suit challenging the Texas laws that criminalized abortion. Eventually, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court as the now-famous Roe v. Wade. She is described as a pregnant woman who "wished to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion 'performed by a competent, licensed physician, under safe, clinical conditions'; that she was unable to get a 'legal' abortion in Texas. . . She claimed that the Texas statutes were unconstitutionally vague and that they abridged her right of personal privacy. . ." (Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), 120).

Norma McCorvey describes herself as having been relatively ignorant of the facts of her own case, and claims that her attorneys simply used her for their own ends. She was pregnant with her third child and wanted end her pregnancy, but she was not aware of all the implications of abortion or even what the term itself meant. She did not fully realize that this process would end a human life. In the end, Norma never had an abortion. She gave her baby up for adoption.

In the 1980's, she became involved in the abortion movement. Around 1992, she began to work at abortion clinics. In 1995, a pro-life group moved into the same building as the abortion clinic, leading to a series of encounters between Norma and pro-life activists. Over time she became friends with many of them and began to have serious doubts about the morality of abortion.

Emily Mackey, the 7 year-old daughter of one of the pro-lifers, particularly affected her. Eventually, she started going to church, and began to reject her past involvement with the pro-abortion movement.
Since her conversion she has dedicated herself to pro-life work, starting her own ministry, "Roe No More," in 1997, and continues to speak out against abortion and for life. In 1998, she became Catholic and has worked to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Norma McCorvey teaches us that we need not be defined by our past. Sometimes the lessons we learn from our past prepare us to minister to others in the future.