Growing up in a world without legal abortion and no contraceptives.

[MineralMan]

Last edited Thu May 5, 2022, 10:43 AM - Edit history (1)

I'll be 77 years old in a couple of months. That means that I graduated from high school in 1963. In California. So, I was a teenaged male high school student from 1959 through 1963.

An adolescent male. Surrounded by adolescent females. That's a dangerous combination. It was then, and it is now, and has been forever.

In California in those days, condoms were for sale only in pharmacies. It was illegal to sell them to anyone under 21 years of age. The birth control pill only became available a year after I graduated from high school. Sex was perilous. I knew that, because I had read books on the subject. There was no sex education in school though, so lots of kids didn't know that, really.

So, I was very, very, very careful in my teen sexplorations. I had a steady girlfriend who wasn't averse to fooling around. We talked about the risks, over and over again. We did not take the risk, but found other interesting ways to explore, instead. She did not get pregnant.

I lived in a town of about 5000. My high school class had 104 students. Six of the girls in that class got pregnant, to my knowledge. Three went to "stay with their aunts." Two got married to the person who got that pregnancy started. One, the Mayor's daughter, got an abortion on the sly from one of the doctors in town. The doctor wasn't charged with performing an abortion. It was a small town. Everyone knew everyone else's business there. Were there abortions I didn't know about? Certainly there were. Illegal ones. I don't know how many. Nobody talked about that.

The next year, I went off to a state college about 150 miles from there. Condoms were still illegal for sale to anyone under the age of 21. However, the college's health center had a large fishbowl in the waiting area full of condoms. People could take what they needed. The pill still wasn't available for another year. When it became available, though, it wasn't legal to prescribe it to unmarried women under the age of 21. The school's health center ignored that. Things were finally changing, but abortion remained unavailable until 1969, when the state's Supreme Court ruled that laws against abortion were unconstitutional. They remained hard to come by for several years after that, though.

I'm old. I remember. It was not a good situation when I was young. I do not want things to return to that state. All of us, regardless of our age or gender, need to fight to prevent a return to those times. We must do that.

[snowybirdie]

1. I'm curious

as to who will enforce all these new anti abortion rules? Police are strained everywhere trying to keep rising crime in check. Postal Inspectors going to find all those illegal pills in the mails? I think not. What we'll have is another type of prohibition. No one stopped drinking then, it just went underground. It'll be a joke. We ladies can be pretty creative.

[SoonerPride]

2. States will pass the vigilante lawsuit law like Texas

So who will enforce it?

Your neighbor.
Your coworker.
Your boss.
Your family members.

They will report you.
They will spy on you.
They will sue you.
They will get you arrested.

That's who.

[geardaddy]

16. This

It will be like 1984

[Ms. Toad]

25. In addition - all of the women who suffer from botched back alley abortions,

complications from a wink-and-nod D&C, or Plan B will need medical assistance.

That means (1) lying about the abortion - and receiving inadequate treatment because doctors are working blind - OR - disclosing the truth (and likely the identity of the doctors/source of Plan B if out of state in order to minimize the personal criminal risk - making it even less likely future women will be able to locate safe, under the table, abortions)

[gldstwmn]

33. Don't forget your phone.

Your phone could reveal if you’ve had an abortion
Internet searches, visits to clinics and period-tracking apps leave digital trails.

When someone gets an abortion, they may decide not to share information with friends and family members. But chances are their smartphone knows.

The leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion proposing to overturn Roe v. Wade raises a data privacy flash point: If abortion becomes criminal in some states, might a person’s data trail be treated as evidence?

There is precedent for it, and privacy advocates say data collection could become a major liability for people seeking abortions in secret. Phones can record communications, search histories, body health data and other information. Just Tuesday, there was new evidence that commercial data brokers sell location information gathered from the phones of people who visit abortion clinics.

“It is absolutely something to be concerned about — and something to learn about, hopefully before being in a crisis mode, where learning on the fly might be more difficult,” said Cynthia Conti-Cook, a technology fellow at the Ford Foundation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/04/abortion-digital-privacy/

[MineralMan]

3. I think that is going to vary from state to state.

Some states will protect women's reproductive rights. Others will not. The pills will continue to be used, but are not the solution for every situation. There will be no abortions available in states that make them illegal. Women will have to go where they are legal.

The only solution will be a federal one and it's going to need a shift in Congress to substantial Democratic majorities in both houses. Without that the solutions will not happen. We need to devote our energy toward creating those majorities this year and in 2024. We must do that, or we risk losing everything.

[LeftInTX]

8. District Attorneys and Grand Juries

Abortion is not a police issue.

[wryter2000]

19. Providers will enforce them

They'll simply refuse to provide abortions. After all the cost and effort to become a medical professional, they won't risk losing their licenses.

Pre-Roe, some doctors did them, and bless them.

Even after Roe, a doctor in MA was charged with murder for performing one. They claimed the fetus was alive and he killed it. He was acquitted, but who wants you risk that? Kenneth Edelin. I've never forgotten him.

[snowybirdie]

22. My point was

During Prohibition, no bars or clubs were supposed to be open or liquor sold. Same for abortion. Underground providers who will try to avoid detection will be there, however.. Who will police them? Law enforcement has other things to do on a daily basis.

[wryter2000]

32. A few people can go overseas, too.

That doesn't diminish the misery and death this will cause.

[Ms. Toad]

24. This is what underground abortion looks like (Graphic - Gerri Santoro those my age remember it)

Click through for the photo

The story behind that greusome picture, which everyone needs to know: https://www.vice.com/en/article/evgdpw/how-a-harrowing-photo-of-one-womans-death-became-an-iconic-pro-choice-symbol

Women were creative in the 60s and 70s, as well. Women who find out too late to use the abortion pill, will need an actual abortion. Poor women in those circumstances, who cannot afford to travel, will wind up in the hands of back-alley abortionists.

Women who find doctors willing to perform an abortion on the side, but who suffer complications which need further attention will either (1) lie about the source of the complications so doctors are treating her blind or (2) acknowledge the abortion and likely out the doctor who performed it in an effort to avoid prosecution in states which criminalzie it.

Women who have complications from Plan B will face the same choice - diminishing the effectiveness of treatment post Plan B because doctors may not know what they are treating. (And if they do know, the woman and the supplier of the pills will risk prosecution or loss of license if they were obtained in a telemed visit by a doctor not licensed in the state where the woman was at the time of the appointment.

It will no more be a joke now for women without the resources for a wink and nod D &C, or a trip out of state, than it was for Gerri Santoro in 1964.

[Elessar Zappa]

4. Thanks for this post.

I’m a 38 year old male (born in 1983) so I’ve never known a time when contraception and abortion weren’t legal and safe. I really fear for the future of women’s reproductive freedom. We must work to elect Democrats at every level, from dogcatcher on up. Everyone needs to do their part.

[MineralMan]

6. Thank you. You are right. It's up to all of us to

make sure we elect enough Democrats to turn this around. If not now, when?

[markie]

9. many hugs to you....

[RKP5637]

5. My sister nearly died from a botched abortion in the 50's. It will be deadly for many if the US

returns to old style abortions for those poor and/or desperate ... or afraid of consequences if not secret. Old style abortions are not pretty.

[MineralMan]

7. We oldsters need to make it clear how things were.

It was a very difficult time, and even deadly for some. We cannot allow things to return to that state ever again!

[markie]

10. I'm old as well

I self-aborted because I found out my husband was sleeping with another woman when I learned I was pregnant... I was lucky, I was ok, and it was successful (I used powerful herbs)... many, many were not so lucky

"We won't go Back"

[MineralMan]

12. We Must Not Go Back!

Women need choices, and safe ones! I'm sorry you had to go through that.

[jaysunb]

11. Abortion was never about "unborn babies."

It was always about sex.

[MineralMan]

13. Sex Causes Unborn Babies. It's That Simple.

In 1965, at age 19, I resolved not to add any new humans to the planet. I succeeded with that. Overpopulation was my reason. Fortunately, I found wonderful women in my life who also felt the same way.

[Ray Bruns]

14. It's about control.

[MarcA]

20. +1000 n/t

[Ilsa]

15. Someone will refine the use of herbs for ending pregnancy. Herbs

can be dangerous to the point of destroying major organs and causing death. Pennyroyal can be extremely toxic. Black cohosh has been used to induce labor. Other herbs have been used as well. Herbs are currently a dangerous option.

[MineralMan]

17. That's very true. All non-medical abortions have risks.

There are far fewer risks with medical abortions, either with approved drugs or otherwise.

[wryter2000]

18. I'm 73

I don't know if people realize that not only was abortion illegal, but contraceptives were unavailable. My best friend's sister was able to get pills because the doctor allowed it once she was engaged. Even that had to be post-Griswold. (We lived in CT.)

A few years later, I got up the courage to ask a doctor for pills. I lied and told him I was in a serious relationship. He told me if the guy cared about me, he'd marry me. I used to wear gloves when I went to the pharmacy so they wouldn't notice the lack of a wedding ring. I swear, they still looked at me funny.

Most boys weren't as good as you. They would constantly press for sex. They would sneer at a girl for being a virgin.

Bad enough to imagine living without abortion. Try to picture also living without contraceptives. That's where we're headed unless things change, folks.

[MineralMan]

26. Exactly. Unavailable Contraceptive Measures Made Things Much Worse.

For me, the fear of impregnating someone and the changes that would make in both her and my lives stopped me cold. However, it didn't stop the experimentation with sex. It just had to avoid doing things that could cause pregnancy. Everything else was sort of OK.

I was lucky. I had access to my mother's books from nurses training, which had the details in them that were otherwise unavailable. When I turned 13 and was entering puberty, my mother gave me a couple of books, because I was a voracious reader. "Read these," she said. "Pay attention to what you learn. Think about the consequences of having sex." I did.

My steady girlfriend all through high school and I talked about all of that stuff. She was a very bright person and very interested in all of it. We were a couple for three years. It didn't last past high school, though. We learned a lot together, but did not risk a pregnancy. We were smart enough to recognize that would be something that would change both our our lives. We're still in touch, almost 60 years later. We laugh a lot about those years. But, there are no regrets. We thought ahead.

[wnylib]

21. 1969 state ruling in CA for abortion, but

the national ruling for the country was not until 1973.

I am a few years younger, and graduated in 1967. I remember that girls "disappeared" from classes. Some returned a year later, after having "visited" relatives out of state. Some did not return, but changed schools or went to school districts where they were not known. A few from more well off families "went abroad" to study. There was an exchange program for study abroad, but those girls were not in the program. A European tour for them was usually a graduation present, not a middle-of-the-school-year whim. Their boyfriends talked to their close friends. Word got around.

As MineralMan says, teen couples got creative in avoiding pregnancy when birth control was not available. I don't know what the PA law was regarding age for the sale of condoms when I was a teen. But teen boys seemed to know how and where to get them and talked about it among themselves (I had two older brothers).

There was one doctor in town that had a "secret" reputation as the one to go to if a girl got pregnant.

There was no formal sex education class, but in 11th grade, the girls had 3 days of gym class and 2 days of Health and Hygiene taught by the girls' gym teacher. Gym classes, of course, were segregated by gender. In Health Class the teacher never directly taught about sex and reproduction, but did discuss dating questions and issues. She answered anonymous questions submitted in writing by girls in the class. I remember one discussion was about what to do when you and your long term, serious boyfriend had so far avoided "going all the way" but could not hold off much longer. The class and teacher offered suggestions like breaking up for a while to "cool off." One suggestion, to get married as soon as possible, evolved into how to convince parents to give consent since marriage age in PA for women without parental consent was 21. Or, find a state where it was legal at 16 and go there for a secret marriage.

In my senior year, one of my classmates confided in me that she and her boyfriend had done that. She did not wear a ring and had not told her parents yet, but she was married. I asked what she would do if she got pregnant before graduation. She said it would be ok because they were married and she would graduate before the birth.

My high school boyfriend made that suggestion to me, too. He had dropped out of his first year in college. I was a high school junior. We had dated off and on since I was 13. He had checked out the states' laws and knew where we could go. But all I could think while he talked about it was, "Marriage??? I haven't even finished high school!"

I did not say yes or no, just hoped he would drop it. But that was in 1966. So, he got another girl pregnant and married her, securing a draft exemption for himself.

[MineralMan]

27. Those were precarious times, indeed.

A lot of people went through similar things in high school. Some were smart and avoided the problem of pregnancy. Others didn't.

I hope things do not return to those days.

[cksmithy]

30. I graduated high school in1 969. There were 4 freshman girls, ages 15, in my class of 450

that got married and had babies to keep their boyfriends, who were 18 to 20 years old out of the draft. I lived in a california coastal area near Ft. Ord. At the time if you were married with children, a man didn't have to to go to VietNam. All of the pregnant teenage women at my school were able to continue school and graduate, one was even pregnant with number 3 as she walked to get her diploma. There was also another girl, not 18, so not legally a woman, a valedictorian, who also was pregnant, when we all walked down the aisle and graduated. They got pregnant to protect their boyfriends. Only one was still married at our 20 year reunion. There were also many girls, (under 18) that went away to stay with relatives for a year, lots of gossip. As young teenage girls, we talked abut sex, marriage and having babies all the time, even after having kids was no longer a deferment. It was crazy. Having an abortion was never even discussed, until I went to Monterey Peninsula College in fall, 1969.

[wnylib]

34. The irony is that, if my boyfriend had been

up front with me about his reason for wanting to get married, I probably would have agreed to it. There would have been a purpose, then, for marrying at 16, that I would have bought into. But he made it seem like, since we kept going back to dating each other after periods of being apart, it meant that we were "meant for each other."

I later learned that, before trying to pressure me into marriage, he had been turned down by another girl who was a graduating senior heading off for college.

When I did not agree quickly he found someone else who did. But he used the context of the times regarding early marriage to avoid premarital sex as his argument to convince me.

Last I heard from mutual acquaintances after his marriage is that it had lasted at least a year by the time I graduated from high school. I had no contact with those acquaintences after that so I don't know how long it lasted in the long run.

[cksmithy]

35. It is just hard for me

to relate my granddaughters experiences, who are now in college, to my own experiences in high school. I haven't had any further contact since that reunion with high school classmates. I married young at 20, but marched in the 1969 VietNam protest in San Francisco. The times were so different to now but in many ways exactly the same.

[Farmer-Rick]

23. My good friends' sister was really sick when we were in 10th grade

For weeks my friend worried if her sister would come out of the hospital alive.

Everytime I asked what was making the sister sick, she said she didn't know. The sister survived but she could never have children again.

I say again because 5 years later, I found out the sister had an illegal abortion by a local doctor who botched it. Everyone knew the doctor and no one held him accountable. Instead, they all blamed the sister. He continued to destroy women's lives for about 5 years.

He ended up eventually killing the daughter of a local cop and the cop sued him for every cent he had. The doctor stopped offering services after that.

We all knew this doctor was hurting women for years and only an angry, grieving father got him off the streets.

Then Row v Wade happened. It would be 10 years before abortion services were legally offered there, 10 years after Roe.

[MineralMan]

28. Abortions were available in California before Roe v. Wade, but

there were restrictions. A number of women I knew got around those by finding doctors who would accept mental distress as a qualifying reason. That went away before too long and abortion became much simpler and more accepted.

[kskiska]

29. I'm a year older than you and I lived in Connecticut where contraceptives were illegal.

Of course, they could be obtained, but teenagers took chances, in parked cars at the local beach (known as watching the "submarine races". Like you, I remember girls quitting high school and getting married or just disappearing. Some were spirited away upstate to Hartford to the Catholic Home for Unwed Mothers, where they left without a baby after signing away their rights under extreme pressure. It's insane to think that in this day and age we're looking to return to that nightmarish era.

[MineralMan]

31. Yes. It's unthinkable.

Most people have forgotten a time when contraceptives were illegal and unavailable in many places. That's why I posted this reminder.