On Thursday, ABC’s Good Morning America hyped a new docu-series set to premiere on Disney-owned cable channel FX on Friday titled AKA Jane Roe, focused on a 2017 deathbed interview with Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” plaintiff in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. The network hyped McCorvey’s claim that her “anti-abortion” activism later in life “was a scam.”
“And now to the new documentary making headlines, AKA Jane Roe, featuring never-before-seen interviews with Norma McCorvey....she’s making a stunning admission,” proclaimed co-host Amy Robach. Correspondent Deborah Roberts noted that McCorvey “was deeply conflicted about her role in the abortion debate, even aligning herself later in life with the anti-abortion movement.” The reporter then touted: “Well now, in an astonishing confession on her deathbed, she admitted that that part of her life was all a lie.”
As the taped portion of the report began, Roberts declared: “Norma McCorvey, the famous plaintiff behind Roe v. Wade, admitting for the first time on camera, her decision to become an anti-abortion activist in the ’90s was a scam, confessing she was paid by church officials to lie.” A soundbite ran of McCorvey claiming: “I took their money and they took me out in front of the cameras and told me what to say.”
At no point in the segment did Roberts speak to pro-life activists who worked with McCorvey for years or the Catholic priest who helped guide her conversion to the Church and conducted her funeral, all of whom cast doubt on how the documentary portrayed her.
Instead, the reporter allowed director Nick Sweeney to frame the series unchallenged:
SWEENEY: I think that she was very motivated by this idea of setting the record straight and explaining who she really was.
ROBERTS: Norma McCorvey, silent for all those years, finally dictating her own narrative just before passing away in 2017.
SWEENEY: It was all an act?
MCCORVEY: Yeah. I did it well too. I am a good actress. Of course, I’m not acting now.
ABC was only one of many liberal media outlets to seize on documentary as supposed evidence that the pro-life movement “was always built on lies.”
As eager as the press has been to highlight McCorvey’s “astonishing confession” from 2017, back in 2009, the networks barely noticed when she was arrested while protesting against the nomination of liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
Apparently coverage of McCorvey’s stance on abortion is simply a matter of political convenience for the media.
Here is a full transcript of the May 21 report:
8:19 AM ET
AMY ROBACH: And now to the new documentary making headlines, AKA Jane Roe, featuring never-before-seen interviews with Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” of the title, who played a critical role in that landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. And now, she’s making a stunning admission. Deborah Roberts has her story. Good morning, Deborah.
DEBORAH ROBERTS: Good morning, Amy. Norma McCorvey’s life was filled with dramatic twists and turns. It’s no wonder a lot of movies were made about her. She was deeply conflicted about her role in the abortion debate, even aligning herself later in life with the anti-abortion movement. Well now, in an astonishing confession on her deathbed, she admitted that that part of her life was all a lie.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “Jane Roe’s” Stunning Admission; Deathbed Confession From Woman at Center of Landmark Case]
NORMA MCCORVEY: This is my deathbed confession.
ROBERTS: Norma McCorvey, the famous plaintiff behind Roe v. Wade, admitting for the first time on camera, her decision to become an anti-abortion activist in the ’90s was a scam, confessing she was paid by church officials to lie.
MCCORVEY: I took their money and they took me out in front of the cameras and told me what to say.
ROBERTS: The new FX documentary series, AKA Jane Roe, exploring McCorvey’s involvement in the landmark supreme court case which protected a woman’s right to abortion.
MCCORVEY: Jane Roe is any woman who’s ever been denied anything in her whole life.
REV. ROB SCHENCK [FORMER ACTIVIST FOR OPERATION RESCUE]: She was a star on the pro-abortion side.
ROBERTS: But 22 years later, she began working with Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion organization, claiming to have switched sides.
MCCORVEY: The pro-lifers have shown me what it’s like to be a human being for the very first time in my whole life.
NICK SWEENEY [DIRECTOR, AKA JANE ROE]: In many ways, Norma was, throughout her life, reduced to a trophy or an emblem. But behind that is a real woman with a real story. I wanted to really get to the heart of what drove her and who she really was.
ROBERTS: Director Nick Sweeney highlighting her spirit and personality.
MCCORVEY: If you’re nice and quiet and polite, nobody pays any attention to you, and I like attention.
SWEENEY: She had this very, very quirky sense of humor. She was charming and she was wry.
ROBERTS: Reflecting on her actions.
SWEENEY: I think that she was very motivated by this idea of setting the record straight and explaining who she really was.
ROBERTS: Norma McCorvey, silent for all those years, finally dictating her own narrative just before passing away in 2017.
SWEENEY: It was all an act?
MCCORVEY: Yeah. I did it well too. I am a good actress. Of course, I’m not acting now.
ROBACH: Alright, we thank Deborah Roberts for that. And you can see AKA Jane Row on FX tomorrow at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific. On Saturday, on FX on Hulu.
