Column

The ‘Pro-Life’ Movement Was Always a Con

‘AKA Jane Roe’ exposes how anti-abortion activism is built on mistruths, fabrications, and coercion

Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe” in Roe vs. Wade, is the center of media attention following arguments in a Missouri abortion case at the Supreme Court on April 26th, 1989. Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images

A documentary about the life of Norma McCorvey — better known as Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade — comes out tomorrow on FX, tracking her life from a plaintiff in the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States to a “saved” anti-abortion activist. The big reveal? McCorvey, who died in 2017, admits she only allied with anti-abortion organizations because she was paid to do so.

According to the documentary, AKA Jane Roe, McCorvey received nearly half a million dollars in “benevolent gifts” from anti-abortion and religious groups, like the extremist organization Operation Rescue, in exchange for her public conversion to religion and anti-abortion activism. The partnership was hugely valuable for conservatives. “I was the big fish,” she says.

It’s a shocking admission, but not necessarily a surprising one. The “pro-life” movement has always been a con; this latest revelation is just another reminder of how deep that con goes.

Nearly every piece of legislation, every claim against legalized abortion, and every bit of anti-abortion activism is built on mistruths, fabrications, and…