More than 100 parishioners from over a dozen parishes in East Los Angeles turned out Oct. 8 at Resurrection Church for a Spanish-language respect life program that included guest speaker Norma McCorvey, the "Roe" of the Roe vs. Wade 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

McCorvey, who became a pro-life supporter in 1995 after spending years as a staunch pro-choice proponent, was among several speakers during the afternoon conference organized by the group Hispanics for Life.

"I think the archdiocese is trying to light a spark in the Hispanic community regarding the pro-life movement," said organizer Jay Hernandez, a member of the archdiocesan Family Life Issues commission. Hernandez said community feedback has been positive since the recent Spanish-language respect life campaign kicked off with its first presentation to an audience of 75 at Resurrection Church Aug. 20.

"When you show people what abortion is, you get their attention," said Hernandez. As part of the program, participants saw the film "Dura Realidad" ("Hard Reality") produced by Hispanics for Life, which shows aborted babies found in trash bags a few years ago in Houston, Texas. "People are deeply touched when they see the film," said Hernandez.

In his talk, Hernandez decried abortionists who target the local Hispanic community with their "Death Zone" of seven abortion mills in a one-mile area of McArthur Park in Los Angeles. Speaker Javier DeSantiago pointed out the plethora of "abortos" ads in the Spanish telephone yellow pages compared to one English ad for Planned Parenthood. "Why are the majority of abortuaries located near barrios?" queried DeSantiago.

Louis Velasquez, who translated McCorvey's talk into Spanish, rhetorically wondered: "How did we ever get to this point of having to defend children?" Velasquez, special projects coordinator for the archdiocesan vicar for clergy office, said today's fast-paced, "immediate satisfaction" society sees abortion as a quick solution to untimely pregnancies.

McCorvey, who was a pregnant 22-year-old in 1969 when she was referred by an adoption attorney to lawyers seeking a plaintiff for an abortion suit against the State of Texas, said she still carries guilt for her involvement in what would evolve to be the Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade.

"I did sign the affidavit that brought the holocaust of abortion into this nation," said McCorvey, whose baby was given up for adoption. "I found out about Roe vs. Wade like everyone else did --- in the paper," she said.

Agreeing with an audience member that she felt she was a "pawn" of the abortion-rights lawyers, McCorvey said she was told abortion legalization would end back ally abortions and "probably" put a stop to rape and incest. "They had a hidden agenda. They told me that they only wanted to legalize abortion in the state of Texas, but what they actually wanted to do was what they did --- legalize abortion across the land," declared McCorvey.

In 1994, after more than two decades of guilt-induced drug binges and various jobs at abortion clinics, McCorvey began to change her mind about the abortion industry, especially when Operation Rescue workers moved next door to her abortionist-employer in Texas. She was particularly enchanted with the friendliness of two little girls, Emily and Chelsey, seven- and four-year-old daughters of rescuers. "I was on the pro-abortion side so long, I didn't know how to react to kindness and love that all these people and the children were showing me," said McCorvey.

She became disillusioned with her job admitting women for first and second trimester abortions. Each weekend, according to McCorvey, clinic staff had to meet a $40,000 abortion quota.

"What I didn't understand at the time was that I was tiring of the abortion movement," she explained, adding she was "fed up with the lies and the mistreatment of the women" coming in for abortions. When she started counseling women that they were under no obligation to go through with their abortions, reducing the weekend census, she was fired.

In 1995, while attending a church service with Emily and Chelsea's family, McCorvey answered an altar call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. A couple of years later, McCorvey felt called by the Lord to the Catholic church of her youth. (Her mom was Catholic and her dad was a Jehovah's Witness.) After receiving instruction in the Catholic faith at St. Albert's Priory at the University of Dallas, she became a Catholic on Aug. 17, 1998.

"I think it's great being a Catholic, and I enjoy my work a great deal," said McCorvey. As founder of the non-denominational "Crossing Over Ministry" (formerly named "Roe No More Ministry"), McCorvey travels internationally speaking on behalf of the pro-life movement. She is particularly interested in helping crisis pregnancy centers, which now outnumber abortion clinics in the U.S.

For more information on crisis pregnancy information, call (800) 395-HELP, a 24-hour national hotline with Spanish-speaking counselors.