Norma Leah Nelson McCorvey (September 22, 1947 – February 18, 2017), also known by the pseudonym "Jane Roe", was the plaintiff in the landmark American legal case Roe v. Wade in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that individual state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional.[2]
Later in her life, McCorvey became an Evangelical Protestant and, in her remaining years, a Roman Catholic, and took part in the anti-abortion movement.[3] McCorvey stated then that her involvement in Roe was "the biggest mistake of [her] life."[4] However, in the Nick Sweeney documentary AKA Jane Roe, McCorvey said, in what she called her "deathbed confession", that "she never really supported the antiabortion movement" and that she had been paid for her anti-abortion sentiments.[5]
Or she wasn't. Norma McCorvey, a Useful Idiot.
"McCorvey had trouble with the law that began at the age of ten, when she robbed the cash register at a gas station and ran away to Oklahoma City with a friend.[6][2] They tricked a hotel worker into letting them rent a room, and were there for two days when a maid walked in on her and her female friend kissing.[11] McCorvey was arrested and taken to court, where she was declared a ward of the state and a judge sent her to a Catholic boarding school, though she didn't become Catholic until 1998.[12][13][14][11]
Later, McCorvey was sent to the State School for Girls in Gainesville, Texas, on and off from ages 11 to 15. She said this was the happiest time of her childhood, and every time she was sent home, would purposely do something bad to be sent back. After being released, McCorvey lived with her mother's cousin, who allegedly raped her every night for three weeks. When McCorvey's mother found out, her cousin said McCorvey was lying.[15]
While working at a restaurant, Norma met Woody McCorvey (born 1940), and she married him at the age of 16 in 1963. She later left him after he allegedly assaulted her. She moved in with her mother and gave birth to her first child, Melissa, in 1965.[16][17] After Melissa's birth, McCorvey developed a severe drinking and drug problem.[6] Soon after, she began identifying as a lesbian. In her book, she stated that she went on a weekend trip to visit two friends and left her baby with her mother. When she returned, her mother replaced Melissa with a baby doll and reported Norma to the police as having abandoned her baby, and called the police to take her out of the house. She would not tell her where Melissa was for weeks, and finally let her visit her child after three months. She allowed McCorvey to move back in. One day, she woke McCorvey up after a long day of work; she told McCorvey to sign what were presented as insurance papers, and she did so without reading them. However, the papers she had signed were adoption papers, giving her mother custody of Melissa, and McCorvey was then kicked out of the house.[15] Her mother disputed that version of the events, and said that McCorvey had agreed to the adoption.[18]
The following year, McCorvey again became pregnant and gave birth to a baby, Jennifer, who was placed for adoption.[19]"