Fr. Frank Pavone: Texts from Norma McCorvey disprove ‘AKA Jane Roe’ filmmakers’ claims

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, has been outspoken in defense of the late Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe” of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the U.S.) since media outlets began reporting this week that McCorvey allegedly lied about being pro-life over the last two decades of her life. Now he is sharing tweets McCorvey sent to him, including one sent on a day she was set to begin filming the new documentary “AKA Jane Roe,” the film that appears to show McCorvey accusing the pro-life movement of paying her to lie.

“I have texts from her. In fact, one of the texts was on one of the specific days in May of 2016 when she was being interviewed for this documentary,” Pavone told Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins. “She was in a very bad state of mind that day, very bad, and the texts I have demonstrated that. By the way, also, the text that says she was getting paid to do this documentary. People need to keep that in mind, too. So then Norma said, ‘Hey Father, you know, this guy from Australia came down from New York and is interviewing me, and you know, I’m charging him and I’m really happy about this because I’m going to get some good money from this.’ And earlier that day, the text she sent me said, ‘I’m sitting here broke and extremely upset.'”

The filmmaker, Nick Sweeney, told the media that Norma was not paid for her participation in the documentary about her life—a claim that seems unlikely.

Pavone said McCorvey was upset at the time at certain pro-lifers and told Pavone she was done with them, but he said this was typical behavior for McCorvey when she was angry. Pavone shared the texts with LifeNews.com, which confirmed what he told Hawkins. He also told the pro-life news site that those texts were consistent with others that told him of her financial struggles.

READ: ‘AKA Jane Roe’: Norma McCorvey’s longtime friends set the record straight

“Norma and I texted, emailed, called, and visited with each other constantly over 22 years’ time,” he told LifeNews.com. “She kept me informed of her activities, including the taping of this documentary. On May 24, 2016, at 8:50pm ET, Norma texted me that she was ‘sitting here broke and extremely upset’ by the difficulties she was encountering in making moving arrangements.”

Pavone said everyone in the pro-life movement who knew McCorvey well after her 1995 pro-life conversion knew there was a “difference between what was temporary frustration and what represented her core beliefs.” In her frustrations, like many people, she would say she wasn’t going to be “one of you anymore,” meaning pro-life, but then she would apologize for venting.

McCorvey died in February 2017 and pro-lifers were with her at the end of her life and helped to pay for her funeral. Her close friends maintain that McCorvey was pro-life and remained so until her death. The “AKA Jane Roe” filmmakers only knew McCorvey for a brief amount of time, and they also have ties to Planned Parenthood. Members of the pro-life movement are pushing for unedited footage to be released.

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