AKA Jane Roe (FX)

[Growsonwalls]

Did anyone watch this FX documentary about Norma McCorvey?

I thought it was very well done and informative. A few thoughts:

1. I felt bad for Norma McCorvey on a personal level but my sympathy for her went away once she abandoned her longtime gf Connie. Connie seemed like the only person who genuinely cared about Norma. So shitty of Norma just to turn her back on Connie when she made her new anti-gay friends. Poor Connie 😞 

2. Flip Benham made my skin crawl. What. A. Creep. He compared being lesbian to "eating bon bons"? What an awful person. He was just about the most awful person I've ever seen on TV and I watched Charles Manson interviews.

3. I felt like Norma McCorvey's "deathbed confession" was sad. This was a woman who had been used by both sides and I felt like she really trusted the documentary maker.

4. Henry Wade's "joke" in front of the Supreme Court was awful.

5. Rev Rob at least had some self-awareness of how he was using Norma.  I found his twitter account. He does seem more compassionate than Flip Benham. 

6. Shocked that Norma got $456k to "switch sides." For someone that hardscrabble I could see that much money being tempting.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Growsonwalls

[eyelash]

She seemed incapable of deciphering who to trust her entire life, and always chose the easiest path financially.  Both sides of the abortion debate used her, but my sympathy is also tempered by the fact that she knowingly played along.  Turning her back on Connie was the saddest example.   I was multi-tasking and missed it.  Did she have one daughter she gave away?  And then was that the daughter she was pregnant with at the time she got involved with abortion rights who was with her at the end in the nursing home?  I wasn't clear whether she raised either of her children herself.

[Growsonwalls]

4 minutes ago, eyelash said:

She seemed incapable of deciphering who to trust her entire life, and always chose the easiest path financially.  Both sides of the abortion debate used her, but my sympathy is also tempered by the fact that she knowingly played along.  Turning her back on Connie was the saddest example.   I was multi-tasking and missed it.  Did she have one daughter she gave away?  And then was that the daughter she was pregnant with at the time she got involved with abortion rights who was with her at the end in the nursing home?  I wasn't clear whether she raised either of her children herself.

Norma actually had three kids. Her oldest was Melissa, the daughter we saw visiting her in the nursing home. Melissa was raised by Norma's mother but seems to have kept in touch with Norma.

Baby #2 was given away for adoption.

Baby #3 was the Roe baby. Norma never had an abortion because baby #3 was also given away for adoption.

[Shorty186]

Norma was an interesting person. I kept alternating between feeling sorry for her and really thinking she was awful. I can't believe she treated Connie that way. I want to know more about how Norma left after Connie had her stroke. Did that leave her with long-lasting effects for the rest of her life? I hope she had some family who took care of her.

I was confused about the funeral. Why was Flip there giving the mass? Did he really not know Norma was BSing them until the filmmaker showed them her footage? I was really shocked that the other Reverend had realized what he'd done was wrong. I wish he would have explained what led to it because everything he said about why women have the right to choose is what it all boils down to. If only more people were open to hearing it.

[Growsonwalls]

6 hours ago, Shorty186 said:

Norma was an interesting person. I kept alternating between feeling sorry for her and really thinking she was awful. I can't believe she treated Connie that way. I want to know more about how Norma left after Connie had her stroke. Did that leave her with long-lasting effects for the rest of her life? I hope she had some family who took care of her.

I was confused about the funeral. Why was Flip there giving the mass? Did he really not know Norma was BSing them until the filmmaker showed them her footage? I was really shocked that the other Reverend had realized what he'd done was wrong. I wish he would have explained what led to it because everything he said about why women have the right to choose is what it all boils down to. If only more people were open to hearing it.

This in depth article provides more info about McCorvey's life.

Looks like Connie went to live with family after the stroke:

Quote

In June 2010, Connie Gonzalez sat smoking Marlboro Lights outside the home on Cactus Lane, in Dallas, where she had lived for some 35 years with Norma McCorvey. Gonzalez had lost her short-term memory—and her lesbian partner—after suffering a stroke six years earlier. But at age 79 she remained big and sturdy, a colossus in white sneakers and blue jeans and an aqua shirt that read grits: girls raised in the south. She also remained clear about McCorvey. “She’s a phony,” said Gonzalez, her niece Linda Tovar helping her to find elusive words.

Gonzalez said that McCorvey had not visited her in years.

Also some info about Flip Benham's relatkionship with McCorvey:

Quote

McCorvey has alienated other pro-life partners too. “She just fishes for money,” says Flip Benham, the man who led her to the pro-life side. 

 

[Spartan Girl]

This was...this was a lot to take in.

I guess it's good that Norma came clean at the end of her life but it doesn't make up for abandoning poor Connie.

Flip is a piece of shit. At least that other guy was man enough to admit that they crossed the line of ethics and morals to further their agenda.

[Growsonwalls]

11 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

This was...this was a lot to take in.

I guess it's good that Norma came clean at the end of her life but it doesn't make up for abandoning poor Connie.

Flip is a piece of shit. At least that other guy was man enough to admit that they crossed te line of ethics and morals to further their agenda.

You know one thing that struck me about both Flip and Rev Rob -- although Flip is a POS and Rev Rob at least has some self awareness and compassion, both seem to be extremely hard, cold and cynical for men of God. Flip talks openly about how he wishes his kids had been aborted. Wow. 

[iMonrey]

Was this a one-off documentary or are there additional episodes? I kept seeing that it was going to "premier" on Friday, which suggests more episodes. Or is cable just borrowing streaming lingo now?

Quote

2. Flip Benham made my skin crawl. What. A. Creep. He compared being lesbian to "eating bon bons"? What an awful person. He was just about the most awful person I've ever seen on TV and I watched Charles Manson interviews.

There's nothing worse than a self righteous prig like this guy. Says such-and-such is wrong, but it's not him being judgmental, it's just the way it is! Well, Flip, you're an idiot. And that's not my being judgmental, it's just the way it is!

[EtheltoTillie]

Ditto to what everyone else said, and here's something else.  Sarah Weddington also used Norma.  Norma never got to have an abortion and Weddington just needed a good plaintiff.  That was cold when Weddington called Norma to say "aren't you excited?"  As an attorney, I might have vetted my plaintiff a little better, but they were waiting for the right moment to strike and needed to act quickly, so they took someone with a lot of problems.   I was just a college freshman when this case was decided.  I lived in NY, where we already had legal abortion for two years.  Overall, fascinating movie.

Edited May 30, 2020 by GussieK

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Trailer

First look

Deathbed confession

 

Edited May 31, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo