Anna Daniels
In 1973, the historic Roe v. Wade case set the precedent that a woman’s right to have an abortion is protected by the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiff at the center of that case was Norma McCorvey, better known by the legal pseudonym “Jane Roe.” But later in her life, McCorvey would do a complete 180. She became a passionate pro-life advocate, publicly expressing her regrets and even attempting to petition the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling before her death in 2017. So what happened? That’s what the upcoming FX documentary AKA Jane Roe — the network’s first ever documentary feature — attempts to answer.
Deadline reports that FX has acquired AKA Jane Roe as its first-ever documentary feature, setting the film’s premiere for May 22 at 9 pm ET/PT, with a streaming premiere the next day on Hulu.
Directed by British filmmaker Nick Sweeney, AKA Jane Roe will follow the “true story of McCorvey in the landmark ruling on abortion rights,” featuring unprecedented access to McCorvey via a final series of interviews conducted prior to her death in 2017. McCorvey had lived much of her life in relative anonymity following the landmark case, and opens up on her pivot from pro-choice to pro-life in what she calls her “deathbed confession.”
AKA Jane Roe will surely inspire a ton of controversy considering its still stigmatized topic of abortion, as well as it central figure of McCorvey whose case was so pivotal to the pro-choice movement, and whose about-face has long puzzled many. Which is why, I guess, Sweeney made a documentary about it. While AKA Jane Roe marks FX’s first documentary feature acquisition, the film is part of the network’s continued interest in nonfiction programming. FX is currently airing The Weekly, a docuseries produced with the New York Times, and has more docuseries coming up, including The Most Dangerous Animal of All, Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur, A Wilderness of Error, Pride, Hip Hop Untold, and Women in Comedy.
AKA Jane Roe is produced by Sweeney, Kerstin Emhoff (XOXO), and Chiemi Karasawa (Amazing Grace). Check out the poster for AKA Jane Roe below.
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