Another step on Roe's long journey

Norma McCorvey is taking another step in her long, strange, difficult and probably not-yet-complete journey. She is becoming a Catholic.

Twenty-five years ago, Ms. McCorvey was known throughout the world by another name: Jane Roe. She was the anonymous person named in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide through all nine months of pregnancy (Wade was the attorney general of Texas).

Ms. McCorvey's troubled life has been filled with contradictions. While she was at the center of one of the most famous Supreme Court cases in American history, she was personally unknown. And while the case involved abortion, she actually delivered her child.

In the quarter-century since the 1973 Roe decision, she has traveled a tortuous path that has led her from being the darling of the pro-abortion movement to a stunning conversion to Christianity and the startling decision to become an outspoken advocate of the pro-life cause. Now she has announced that she will begin studies to become a Catholic.

"After many months of prayer and many worried nights," she said this week, "I am making the joyous announcement that I have decided to join...the Roman Catholic Church." She starts classes next month in Texas, where she resides, but she hopes to be confirmed in Rome.

We all travel uncertain paths. We don't know what twists lie ahead of us or what stones block our way. But we hold to the belief that if we keep our minds on Him and pray, the way is always toward God.

Norma McCorvey's decision shows the remarkable power of grace in one person's life. If we search for the presence of grace in our own lives and become open to it, we might be surprised at the powerful and positive changes it brings.

As "Roe," Ms. McCorvey was known as the brand name of the "right to choose." As herself, she has made a series of remarkable choices in favor of God, life and the Church.

(06-18-98)
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