“Poster-girl” for abortion.
When we think of the March for Life and think of the devastating 63,000,000+ abortions that have happened since 1973, we should also hear the whispers of God’s never-ending love and mercy.
“Jane Roe” was the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States. Her real name was Norma McCorvey. In 1969, Norma faced a difficult situation. Struggling under the weight of an unplanned pregnancy, Norma desired an abortion that she could not legally procure. Frustrated, she was pointed in the direction of Sarah Weddington, a lawyer who had made it her goal to take on cases of women seeking an abortion to legalize the practice. Sarah took on Norma’s case, using her plight as an opportunity, and after three years of trials, the case made it to the Supreme Court. On January 22, 1973, the decision was read in favor of “Roe,” striking down a law in Texas banning abortion in a 7-2 vote. Abortion was now legal throughout the entire United States. After the court’s ruling, Norma volunteered at abortion clinics, supporting women’s legal right to have an abortion.
After almost two decades of pushing the abortion industry’s agenda, Norma was left with a burden almost too heavy for her shoulders to bear. Through God’s providence, at a moment when her heart was ready to listen, Norma was confronted with a powerful message about the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human person from a pro-life organization. From this point on, Norma repented of her past and began her conversion to Christ, entering the Catholic Church. She had taken the suffocating weight of sin off of her shoulders and laid it at the feet of Jesus.
My goodness, sweet Norma. I think about her bravery. Truly, how difficult it is to publicly turn from the darkness and dare to look towards the light of our Lord? How difficult it is to admit our guilt and shame and fall to our knees before the King of Kings whom we have hurt above all else and beg Him to allow us to stand in His light once more? And when we do fall at His feet, He is there, every time, for every person, to scoop us into His arms and breathe love and mercy into our broken hearts. His bloody wounds are the salve that heals us, pouring over us as the light of hope. God desired Norma back to His Sacred Heart, beginning the moment she stepped away.
In an interview about her conversion to Christ, Norma shared the first time she received the Eucharist at Mass. She said:
“I had been taught what this meant. Jesus was not dying again. Rather, He was drawing us all into His sacrifice, making it present to us, allowing us to join our lives and sufferings to His. This was and is the sacrifice that saves the world, conquers the power of death, and destroys the power of abortion. There and then, I could place in the chalice all the tears I had ever shed over the aborted babies, all the shame I ever felt from having worked in an abortion clinic and having been a poster girl for the pro-death movement. There and then, just as the bread and wine were being transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, the former Jane Roe could once again rejoice in her own transformation into a new creature in Christ.”
Wow.
Dear friends, just like Norma, we are never too far away from the love and mercy of Christ. Never. He is waiting for you to place your tears into the chalice of His precious Blood… Choose to lay your sin at His feet.
Thank you to all who stand up for life and all those at the march this year!
