I knew of a girl when I was in high school. She was a senior and I was a sophomore. Word began rushing through the school that she (head cheerleader) was pregnant by the quarterback on the football team. He came from a super wealthy family, and honestly we all expected an immediate marriage and a ‘premature’ baby.
What happened instead was an announcement that she had died during emergency surgery and let’s all pray. She had had a (what we called) backstreet abortion and hemorrhaged.
We all knew how to access an illegal abortion, we knew the risks, and this girl just was the unlucky one.
She was super smart, in the Latin club, debate, 4.0, just destined for success. And instead she died.
This was in 1969, and I cannot believe we as a nation are willing to go back over 2 decades in women’s healthcare.