AKA Jane Roe

This was a very difficult documentary to follow. It skips around the time periods. The actual events are presented in a confusing matter and much of the details are omitted, again making it hard to follow

I was hoping this would be a good fact based documentary, I've always found this case and the people surrounding it fascinating. However this was obviously made by pro-life people pushing an agenda. They left out important details to twist the story. They never explored much of the trial itself. The trial is actually very interesting, but when you know more about it you wonder how they came to conclusions they did. Even the actors in it couldn't help but hide their smug attitudes when shown "revealing" information. I found this movie very disappointing and in the end a total waste of time.

Fairly artfully done documentary coverage of the "pro-life" movement, particularly in the Dallas TX area, in the post-Roe era. Even with my pre-awareness, I found it good to watch for the fairly fluid way it takes you through those times and those faces.

I actually met Norma once, and had dealings with Benham.

It's interesting to have learned that Norma was actually on-the-take, but to me the more important thing was getting the sense that she sort of got a kick out of the particular species of attention she could get from Those People in exchange for (I guess) feigning having switched sides as an iconic person of the abortion issue.

It was interesting to see Benham again, young and old. Back in the day, dealing with him, I quickly pegged him as perhaps having a smidgen of principle, but such principle pretty much slathered over with his preening, pious assumption that his religion gave him a shortcut to control over others' lives.

The lost stars in my rating are merely for the overarching reality that in the end these folks' experiences are actually a bit of a blip on the cosmic radar; not really a "big" subject. It's nice that the filmmakers lavished attention on same, but it's also a bit niche for them to have done so.

I won't call these people "trash people" but you end up being conflicted with everybody involved in this story - - which does make the documentary intriguing. At one point McCorvey says "you can't con a con" and that's what everybody in the documentary is.

Whatever a phone version of "pen pals" is, that's the sort of relationship I had with Norma, after reading her second book, calling the phone number listed at the end (for Roe No More ministries) and finding, to my surprise, that Norma herself answered the phone. I always kept the conversations relaxed and familial, the sorts of things grandmother and grandson would talk about, because I figured she had enough of the weighty matters from everyone else. And this documentary does a great job, I think, of showing what happens when an uneducated person just trying to get by in life is used as a mouthpiece for other people's opinions on the biggest societal questions. (Even the Bible warns that new converts shouldn't jump to leadership positions.) Norma's life is a perfect cautionary tale. And you can see just how exhausted she was by it all.

Some things I appreciated about the documentary: the music was subdued (never manipulative); the editing masterfully created suspense where needed, using really subtle techniques; and the people interviewed... well, that one is a little more complicated. I appreciated the fact that many sides of the abortion debate were depicted with archived video footage, including male and female pro-life and pro-choice activists, but I wished the interview pool reflected that same diversity, lest viewers come to the conclusion that pro-lifers are chiefly male, and pro-choicers chiefly female.

At the same time, this wasn't a documentary about the debate. This was a documentary about Norma. So I take that observation with a grain of salt. I just wish I could call her up one last time. I wish I had more inside knowledge about this documentary, not only what Norma's thought process had been, but also (I gotta say it) whether or not she was again being paid a sizable amount to say what she'd been told to say. And I wonder the same about some of the other interviewees.

There's a lot we just don't know. And with so many unrelated societal issues getting unnecessarily bundled together (if the viewer isn't careful to separate them), it's hard to have any real takeaways from this documentary. All I can hope for is that we seek to know the truth regardless of who the mouthpiece is, and to live out the truth lovingly, courageously and faithfully.

I'd be remiss not to end with my position on the matter: We have to offer options safe for women and for the unborn alike; we can't treat any demographic of humanity is being less than human. After all, plenty of 19th-century slaveowners were really nice people, I'm sure, and abolitionists probably real obnoxious to be around, but the truth is independent of its mouthpiece: no demographic of human being should have their personhood taken away. We are not free to take away the basic freedoms of others. The unborn have completely distinct, unique genetic code (not "part of" their mothers' body). They are their own people. And it is not okay that we should choose for them, whether or not to live or die. It brings me to tears when I think of the massacre still happening daily, as free choice is being taken away from human lives unable to speak up for themselves. And I don't care whether or not Roe Vs Wade is overturned; I'd rather see everyday citizens caring for each other, so that no woman ever feels like she has no choice.