Rosary is prayer group's only weapon...

On another occasion a woman planning to have an abortion stopped to ask her what she was doing. While they were talking, another woman came up who had had an abortion and told her how horrible it was. The first woman changed her mind and left.

The group's prayerful presence actually caused the clinic to close down on Saturdays for a time in 1993.

'But we continued to pray every Saturday anyway,' said Mary.

No one knew the reason for the closure -- until Mary, who worked at a crisis pregnancy center, was told by one of her clients who had wanted to get an abortion at the Howard Street clinic that she found out they had closed on Saturdays because of those people who came every Saturday to pray.

'It was like the Holy Spirit telling us, 'Keep it up!'' says Mary.

Pacing the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood Lisa Basarab, Michael Manzo and Mary Nooney recite the rosary

When the clinic finally opened, over a year later, the clinic escorts did not reappear, and the intimidation was greatly diminished.

There are actually two prayer groups who work in shifts on Saturday: the first, comprised of regulars Joan Ferris, Pat Karey and Marge Konigsmark, begins its vigil at about 8 a.m.

At 9 o'clock the second group takes over and stays until about 10. Mary, Mike and Lisa are part of the latter group, which includes Mark Balzarini, who has been coming for 15 years. Afterwards, they usually go to Howard's Deli for coffee and doughnuts.

They come from diverse areas: Lisa is from St. Alphonsus parish, Mary is from St. Dominic's, and Mike is from Immaculate Conception.

But they have 'bonded together,' says Mary. 'When there's illness, job loss or family concerns, we're there for one another.'

'It's a great source of spiritual refreshment to associate with people who have the same convictions,' says Lisa.

The group would love to have newcomers. 'The more you have there, the more impact there is,' says Mary.

Norma McCorvey, the 'Jane Roe' of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, on June 15 announced her decision to become a Catholic.

Miss McCorvey was baptized into the Christian faith three years ago by the Rev. Flip Benham, director of Operation Rescue.

After her initial conversion to Christianity, many Catholic pro-lfie leaders who knew McCorvey's mother was Catholic encouraged her to return to that faith.

She continued to grow in her faith, she said, until one day during prayer, 'I clearly heard the Heavenly Father say to me that I was to be with Him soon. I was very scared of this, thinking that it meant I was to die.'

She consulted her friend, Fr. Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life. His advice was to continue to pray and to ponder the message she had received.

Eventually, she said, 'I came to realize that what God was actually saying to me was to come all the way home to him in His Church -- the Church Jesus Christ Himself founded, the Mother Church.'

The 50-year-old Texan's path to Christianity has been a long and winding one.

Unmarried and pregnant, she agreed to sign a legal affidavit as 'Jane Roe,' using her case in a class-action suit to make abortion legal. By the time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in her favor in Roe v. Wade January 22, 1973, her need for abortion was past -- she had given birth to a daughter and given her up for adoption.

She became active in the feminist movement and worked at a Dallas abortion clinic. She admits to bouts of heavy drinking to help numb her conscience to the horrors of what she saw there.

In March of 1995 Operation Rescue moved its national headquarters next to the clinic.

As months went by, Norma's antipathy toward the pro-lifers began to change. She became friends with the office manager and her family and finally accepted their repeated invitations to go to church with them. In July, 1995, she became a born-again Christian.

Miss McCorvey presently heads a pro-life group called Roe No More Ministries.

She will begin instruction classes in the Catholic faith in July, taught by Fr. Edward Robinson, of the Dallas diocese, where she lives.

Father Pavone, who now works in Rome, will be arranging for her to receive her Confirmation there. He will be informing the Pope of her decision to become a Catholic.

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