For those who have no idea who the woman in the video is or just can't remember learning about it during high school history, this is Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe, from the Roe vs Wade case of the 1970's. This case is what legalized abortions in America. When taught this case in school, you were probably told that a woman named Jan Roe challenged the abortion laws in her hometown and the case, being so controversial, was sent up to the supreme court where the justices on trial gave a verdict in agreement with the plaintiff. I know my history professor did not get into many details about Jane Roe and focused only on the historical significance of the case.
That is probably because Norma McCorvey was not involved in the case at all. Besides signing a few papers and being the anonymous plaintiff "Jane Roe", McCorvey had no first-hand association with the case. She was never present in the courtroom when it was in her hometown, nor did she attend the trials once it was taking to the supreme court. She confesses all this in a book she wrote called "I Am Roe".
After reading the book it became very apparent that she was nothing more than a young woman in a horrible predicament that she wanted out of. McCorvey claims in the book and in an interview called "Reversing Roe: The Norma McCorvey Story" that she had no idea as to what an abortion was. All she understood was that her unwanted baby would be gone.
As passive and ignorant as she might have been in the entire situation, McCorvey did sign those papers and, knowingly or unknowingly, she did get the ball rolling toward the legalization of abortion in America.
In the video above though, is Norma McCorvey stating her stand as a believer of Pro-life. When I first seen this video, which was after I read her book, my initial reaction was "Is she serious?" I mean, years ago McCorvey would have done anything to get rid of her baby and now she is against abortions. In the Reversing Roe interview she states that she did not know she was going to be responsible for the generations of babies after her that were not going to be born because of what she did. And I thought, she didn't really DO anything. But after I had more time to consider McCorvey's understanding of abortion before and after the case, I realized her desperateness, and not her own personal beliefs, is what led her to sign those papers so many years ago.
Everyone has at least one regret. And most of them stem from things we have done when our emotions were in control and our options were scarce. McCovery was probably always anti-abortion, she just did not have the knowledge back then to develop such an opinion. As much hypocrisy that is highlighted by her Pro-life stance, she is entitled to change her mind and stand by her opinion. And just because she was the historic icon Jane Roe, does not mean she should be held responsible for all abortions that followed her trial.
McCorvey is not the pioneer of abortions or the killer of babies in America. Norma McCorvey was a young hopeless woman who had no comprehension of how to get her life on the right track. If it was not her name, Jane Roe, as the plaintiff, it would have been another woman in a similar situation, where she was way above her head. The legalization of Abortions was inevitable because it was only a matter of time before people realized it does not matter whether you are for or against abortions. What matter is that a woman's decision to have an abortion is the woman's decision alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment