i am 64. i got pregnant the first time i had sex at 18 when i was a freshman in college in 1968. i thought i would have the baby, but my parents talked me into having an abortion. my mother, who had an illegal back alley abortion, paid for me to have a hospital abortion, which was also illegal…but nothing like what she went through. there were only 2 reasons to go to a hospital in those days..a miscarriage or because you were crazy.

rather than be put on the locked crazy ward, i was told what lies to tell about my ‘miscarriage’ so i could get the d&c that would be the abortion i needed. i had two more abortions after they became legal. it was because of my mother’s story of her illegal abortion and my experience that i joined the fight to make abortions legal and i’ve been involved in the battle ever since. i just cant believe that we’re still in this war.