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| Norma McCorvey Photo Credit: Lorie Shaull / Flickr |
While Rev. Schenck may have paid McCorvey in cash himself while he was part of the pro-life movement, his claims about other organizations are not supported by financial documents. His side only stands to gain by accusing pro-life organizations of bribing McCorvey, and the filmmakers never found evidence that McCorvey was paid to change sides. They instead based their claim on Schenck's word and receipts for McCorvey's ministry which was formed years after she converted. According to Live Action News, tax forms from Rev. Schenck's own non-profit organization don't support the documentary's claims. P&R Schenck Associates in Evangelism, Inc. never legally gave money to Roe No More Ministry Inc.
The documentary claims that pro-life organizations only gave money to Roe No More to "pay off" McCorvey. Live Action News learned, however, that this ministry didn't even exist until years after McCorvey left the abortion movement in 1995. The earliest tax documents for Roe Nor More were dated 1998.
Furthermore, the documents include compensation for Norma McCorvey for the years 2001-2007. McCorvey only received $140,205 for all of those years combined. Even if McCorvey had been compensated the average of this total for the years when her compensation isn't available in tax documents, she would have only been compensated $200,000 over nine years. All of that money would have been received years after her conversion, and it would have been standard practice to pay McCorvey for speaking engagements and books.
The documents tell a very different story from the $450,000 bribe the FX documentary claims pro-life advocates gave to Norma to give pro-life speeches. We may never know if it's true that McCorvey's conversion was a complete act, but we do know that her pro-life friends believed her, and they did not use their money to take advantage of her.
