22 years ago this week, Norma McCorvey took the first step in one of the more improbable conversions to the Christian faith in recent history.
Decades earlier, McCorvey was a staunch pro-choice advocate and the key figure in Roe v. Wade, the infamous case which paved the way for tens of millions of unborn babies to be legally killed.
Decades after that fateful decision, McCorvey ended up crossing paths with pastor Flip Benham, who had set up the offices of his pro-life organization directly next door to the “abortion mill” McCorvey worked for. In a podcast with Faithwire this week, Benham spoke about his relationship with McCorvey, including the Bible verse he read to her that changed her mind on abortion – almost on the very spot.
It was 22 years ago this week that Benham himself baptized McCorvey, an event that took place live on national television.
Just how lost was McCorvey? Benham’s early recollections of her don’t paint a flattering picture:
“She would leave awful messages on my phone about barbecuing babies and eating them (babies),” Benham recalled. “She would invite me to eat them with her,” he says, seemingly still shaken how vile she once was.
Benham was not deterred, however, and one day confronted her with a Bible verse that shook her to the core.
“God is pro-choice,” Benham said to her, to which she reacted incredulously. The verse he pointed to to back up his assertion was Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 19 and 20, which reads:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Benham discussed his current work through Operation Save America and Operation Rescue during the podcast, as well as more details surrounding his infamous relationship with McCorvey, or “Miss Norma” as he refers to her.
He also candidly spoke of how his first reaction when he found out his wife was pregnant with twins was to ask for an abortion. Those twins were not aborted, however, and you may have heard of them: the Benham brothers.
Check out the conversation below. Around 11 minutes in is when Benham describes his confrontation with McCorvey at a book signing, when he yelled from across the street that she was responsible for the deaths of 30 million babies. That had a profound impact on her – incredible story: