In 1972 the MS magazine premier issue did an historic thing: they published a petition in which 53 women declared they had abortions. At this time abortion was neither safe nor legal. And it certainly was not rare. It was frequently painful, since anesthesia and pain medicine may or may not have been available.
The woman having an abortion may have been blindfolded and taken to a location where someone, hopefully a sympathetic doctor, would perform the "procedure". After a very short recovery time, haven been given a few illegal pain meds, she might have been blindfolded and taken close to her home where she had to walk in and pretend, "Gee, Mom and Dad I'm just having a very bad period." At least that's what my friend "Jeannie" had to do in her freshman year of high school.
More below the fold:
Now the patriarchal, christianist right would like to take us back to those times.
Like hell they will!
I'm going to let Ms. Magazine speak as they are far more eloquent than I.
You can find the full petition petition here.
At the time of the original Ms. petition, illegal abortions were causing untold suffering in the United States, especially for poor women who had to resort to unsafe self-induced or back-alley abortions. Today, in the developing nations each year, approximately 70,000 women and girls die from botched and unsafe abortions and another 500,000 maternal deaths occur--most of this suffering and loss could be prevented. U.S. international family planning policies contribute to this death toll: first, by conditioning its aid on a global gag rule that prevents medical workers from giving even information on abortion; second, by withholding or providing inadequate funds; and finally, by funding abstinence-only education.
We are now starting a new petition, beginning with the names of some of the original 1972 signers. They signed "to save lives and to spare other women the pain of socially imposed guilt." Their purpose was "to repeal archaic and inhuman [anti-abortion] laws."
Yes, I have had an abortion. It was safe and legal. I want it to stay that way for all women.
If you have had an abortion, I urge you to sign the petition. Let our signatures be our voice and our hope that we can keep abortion safe and legal.
Pam