This Wednesday is the anniversary of the fateful decision of Roe v Wade on January 22, 1973. Oddly enough, even the justices who made the decision said that it was weak. Most of the big players in the case converted to being pro-life. Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe” of Roe v Wade, ended up a pro-life Catholic. She dedicated her life after becoming pro-life to saving the lives of babies threatened with abortion, and helping many women before an abortion to keep them from such a devastating decision, and/or after their abortion to find reconciliation. In the court case, she actually never got that abortion, but did get one later with great regrets. She wrote a book on her experiences of abortion and the industry. I had the privilege of meeting her before she died.

Another big player in the abortion industry is Bernard Nathanson. He performed over 60,000 abortions himself. He was one of the doctors coming up with statistics about coat hanger abortions and anything else that could be used to justify abortions. After he changed and became pro-life, he admitted that he made all those statistics up. Unfortunately, so many people today still quote his admitted lies or carry signs of coat hangers, not knowing they believe or promote a lie. Nathanson also became a Catholic. Bernard Nathanson dedicated his life to overturning Roe v Wade. He has now passed away.

A third player that many people do not know about is “Mary Doe” in the Doe v Bolton case. This case was decided on the same day as Roe v Wade. The Roe v Wade decision said that no state could outlaw abortion on the basis that we did not know if it was really a human being in the womb, never mind the fact that the justices threw the new technology of the sonogram out of court. Doe v Bolton said that the state could not regulate or put restrictions on abortion. This made abortion the law of the land carte blanche. To this day, it is difficult to get any kind of regulation on abortions to make it safer for women. In many states, it is easier to give a girl of 13 years of age an abortion than it is to give them an aspirin. We remember the “House of Horrors” when it was discovered that Dr. Gosnell kept the babies aborted all over in trash bags in his “clinic.” He didn’t wash any of the utensils, causing illnesses and even death with some of the women “patients.” The media tried hard not to cover it and suppress this information, along with the local governments of Philadelphia. Sandra Cano is “Mary Doe” of Doe v Bolton. I have heard her speak of her regrets, and she works hard at changing our culture to a culture of life.

Since that fateful day, over one-third of all babies conceived have been aborted. That means that one-third of the population of our children and grandchildren are missing. Moreover, there have been that many women and men who have been devastated by their abortions. The church does what it can to bring healing to such people. If you have been affected and need this healing, you can call the Diocese of Rockford at 815-399-4300 and ask for the Family Life Office. They are very compassionate and will respect your anonymity. Please pray for the souls of all those involved and thank God He is so merciful.