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Summary: Get inside the mind of Jane Roe
Review: This was a fascinating book. I remember when it first came out that Jane Roe had become a Christian and pro-life. I remember hearing some concern expressed that perhaps Norma McCorvey might be used by the pro-life movement. Then I read her book.She talks about her story. Some don't realize that Norma McCorvey never had an abortion, and didn't think she would have gotten one had she been able to! She just made the ideal plantiff and was willing to participate in the lawsuit. She believed in the cause of abortion rights, and so, while she was used, she was willing to be used. In the years that followed, she got involved in the abortion rights movement intimately. She participated in the movement actively and even worked in an abortion clinic. She met leaders in the movement, names that we would all recognize. When she told them who she was, she was personally treated with distain. The only one who was nice to her as a person was Gloria Allred. In spite of that, they were willing to use her and her history when it suited them. On the stage in the rallies, she was a hero. When the rally was over, she was just Norma McCorvey, someone beneath them. Who was it that brought her to faith in Christ? It seems impossible, but it was activists in Operation Rescue. They were nothing but kind to her. They reached out to her and accepted her even when she was unkind to them. The way they lived made a profound impression on her. She wanted what they had. She became a believer. I think it was soon after her profession of faith that the media got ahold of the news. They asked her what she believed about abortion, and she said she still thought it should be legal in the first trimester. Did it anger those who led her to the Lord? No. They let her be herself and express what she believed, even if they disagreed. They privately discussed it with her and eventually persuaded her otherwise, but they never pressured her to be or do anything other than what she was. She felt that the pro-life movement never used her, but the pro-abortion movement had. That is really something, I think. Her change of heart was a gradual one, and for a period of time, she worked in the abortion clinic while personally questioning the morality of abortion. She was a receptionist, and answered calls from prospective clients. I remember her retelling of a few calls and interactions during that time. She directed a girl who was troubled about what she was about to do to leave, reschedule, and meet first with the Operation Rescue people! Another caller, when scheduling her abortion, asked, "It's not a baby, yet, right?" To which Norma answered, "Yes, it is. What did you think it was, a fish?" I was actually sorry when she left that job. She may not have been doing the abortion clinic any favors, but she did make a positive difference for some women uncertain of their choice. I thought the book was a page turner, and an amazing story. Had it been told by anyone else, I'd have been inclined to question the veracity of the story. It is almost too incredible to be believed, but it IS Norma's story. I certainly recommend this book.
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Summary: From Emptiness to Fulfillment
Review: While rabid abortion-rights activists will be reluctant to look beyond the surface of Norma McCorvey's transformation, open-minded readers of all ideological leanings will be moved by this story of a human being's redemption. Political considerations do not diminish the literary strength behind this moving tale of a badly lost soul who finally found her way home. One would have to be blindly biased not to celebrate her emotional repristination. Life as Jane Roe was empty and painful; life as Norma McCorvey is now full and joyous. Norma came from the wrong side of the tracks, and while she was not a completely unwilling pawn in the judicial maneuverings that lead to the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade, she was never embraced by the powers-that-be behind the cause she unwittingly came to embody. Throughout the book she demonstrates that the Ivy League feminists had little use for a blue-collar, drinking, drug-abusing, poorly-spoken, foul-mouthed, high school dropout carnival barker. She even learned of the Supreme Court's decision by catching it in a newspaper write-up. So encompassing was feminist illuminati's eschewing of her, that she was not invited to most major pro-abortion marches, or even to the 20th anniversary White House commemoration with Feminist-in-Chief Hillary Clinton. On the rare occasions when her paths did cross with the ilk of Gloria Steinhem/Kate Michelman/Molly Yard et al., the meetings were usually openly confrontational. One exception was the iconoclastic feminist Gloria Allred. Ms. Allred's brave call for President Clinton to resign on account of his criminal actions--even though she staunchly supported his agenda--brought her scorn from the left (CNN all but barred for life) and praise from scores of her normal nemeses on the right, and she should earn considerably more anomalous approbation/opprobrium by revelations contained here. Norma describes Ms. Allred as the one feminist who always treated her respectfully and unhesitantly acknowledges that today her regard for this political opponent remains high. Among Ms. Allred's credits were her efforts to prevent Norma from drinking before she would appear on television and her discouragement of the insecure woman's narcotic indulgences. Unquestionably the plot's most fantastic twist occurs after Operation Rescue--the civil disobedience prolife group--moved in next door to the abortion clinic where Norma was working. Despite opposite goals, Norma amazingly formed friendships with several Rescue staff members and one in particular who grew so trusting of the infamous foe that she actually let her eight year old daughter play under Jane Rose's tutelage inside the clinic. Were this book a work of fiction, most readers would slam it down in disgust at the farfetched contrivance in that chapter, but as the cliche goes, "truth is stranger..." Obviously Norma's story would be inchoate without a portion devoted to the horrors of the abortion trade, and from her days as an insider she possesses an armamentarium that far surpasses most right-to-life advocates. She makes little effort to conceal her disdain for her clinic's smarmy, avaricious abortionist--whom she never identifies beyond "Arnie," and reveals an industry secret "that a disproportionate number of abortion doctors are actually from other countries--foreigners who perceive that our lax abortion laws create a tremendous moneymaking opportunity." Her contempt for this physician who was always barefoot in the office seems appropriate when she discusses how as his wife battled breast cancer, he moved a mistress into their home. While he is the only abortionist profiled in the book, Norma's implications are clear. Referring to the reality of the work in an abortion clinic, Norma admits that on-the-job cocaine usage was commonplace among most workers (and honestly admits to frequent abuse of the drug herself) "drugs became a major tool to keep the peace; drugs got us through the day." Even abortion proponents should be outraged when she explains political pressure has resulted in a situation where "veterinary clinics have stricter regulations than abortion clinics." One of the book's most poignant moments has to be Norma's revelation of her change of heart to her loving--if dysfunctional--father on his deathbed. The man who had begged her not to abort any of her children (and as she relates he had implored his wife to allow Norma to live decades earlier), was too weak to talk but smiled brightly and gestured affirmatively when she held up a Christian, pro-life shirt. One powerful vignette concerns a post-conversion encounter with a stranger. The young mother allowed Norma to hold her baby. After returning the child Norma remarked how beautiful the child was eliciting a smile and thanks from the mother. Contrasting this subtly joyous experience with her previous vocation, she keenly states, "it dawned on me that I've never had a woman get up to leave an abortion clinic and say 'thank you' before she walked out the door." In a mordant aside at media bias, Norma mentions that after her tergiversation many interviewers asked about her long time lesbian relationship. (She has long since renounced that lifestyle as did her former partner.) Tellingly, she says that the subject of lesbianism never came up during her decades of interviews as an abortion-rights supporter. While the subject of abortion has become a polemic that many run from rather than discuss, it is always beneficial to have a reasonable ratiocination of both perspectives to any divisive topic. It is equally helpful to explore the inner psyche of those tirelessly involved on either side. "Won by Love" is that rare effort that successfully presents an intimate look at both sides of the dichotomy.
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