Webster V Reproductive Health Services

1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.
Page 1
For Opinion See 109 S.Ct. 3040 , 109 S.Ct. 780

Supreme Court of the United States.
William L. WEBSTER, et al., Appellants,
v.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES, et al., Appellees.
No. 88-605.
October Term, 1988.
March 30, 1989.
On Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Brief for the Amici Curiae Women Who Have Had Abortions and Friends of Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees
(Names of 2887 Amici Curiae and 627 Friends of Amici Curiae Set Forth in Appendix A)
Sarah E. Burns, Counsel of Record, Helen R. Neuborne, Alison Wetherfield, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund,
99 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10013 and 1333 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 2005, Dawn Johnsen, National Abortion Rights Action League, 1101 14th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005
*i TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ... iv
INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE ... 1
A. The Amici Curiae ... 1
B. Friends of the Amici Curiae ... 3
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ... 4
ARGUMENT ... 5
I. As the Experiences of Women Show, Roe v. Wade was a Wise and Just Decision and its Relevance Has Not Altered or
Changed ... 12
A. Criminalization and Excessive Regulation of Abortion Endangered The Lives and Health of Women and Hurt Their
Loved Ones ... 13
B. Before Roe v. Wade, Women Were Punished for Having Abortions, Which Silenced All Women on This Critical Topic ... 21
C. Since Roe v. Wade, Abortion Has Become an Extremely Safe Procedure and Women Experience It Without Significant Trauma ... 24
2013 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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II. For a Woman, the Decision Whether to Bear a Child or to Have an Abortion is a Profound Judgment *ii Reflecting
Not Only Responsibility for Herself and to a Potential Life but Also to Loved Ones, to Community and to Spiritual Values; According to Our System of Limited Government, that Decision Must be Left to Her ... 26
A. Whether to Bear a Child or Have an Abortion is a Highly Contextualized Uniquely Personal Decision That Is Not
Within the Competence of a Legislature to Make or Fairly Control ... 29
1. Only the Woman Can Determine How Best to Meet the Often Sharply Competing Demands Within Her Family ... 33
2. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether She is Financially, Educationally, and Emotionally Ready and Able to Assume Responsibility for a Child ... 36
3. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether the Conditions Within Her Life and Family are Healthy Enough to Risk
Having a New Child ... 41
4. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether She Is Healthy Enough to Sustain a Pregnancy and Able to Obtain Adequate
Prenatal Care ... 43
5. Only the Woman Can Weigh Her Ability to Provide for a Child Whose Health May Be Seriously Impaired ... 46
*iii 6. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether Moral or Spiritual Values Compel Her to Terminate Her Pregnancy ...
48
7. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether She Should Bear a Child for Adoption When She is Unable to Assume Responsibility for Its Care ... 49
B. Reality for a Pregnant Woman is That Potential Life is a Part of Her Body ... 51
C. For a Woman to Choose an Abortion is Not Separate or Distinct from Any Other Conduct Protected By the Right of
Privacy ... 54
CONCLUSION ... 62
APPENDIX A: ... A1
1. The Names of the Amici Curiae
2. The Names of the Friends of Amici Curiae
APPENDIX B ... B1
Full Text of Letters of the Amici Curiae Quoted in the Brief
APPENDIX C ... C1
Full Text of the Letters of the Friends of Amici Curiae Quoted or Cited in the Brief
*iv TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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CASES
City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 462 U.S. 416 (1983) ... 64
Crissman v. State of Texas, 245 S.W. 438 (Tex. Crim. App. 1922) ... 24
Deaconess Hospital v. Ilester McRoberts and Kevin McRoberts, No. 874-00172 Div. No.2 (Mo. Cir. Ct., St. Louis Cty.,
May 21, 1987) ... 54
Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923) ... 8
Michael M. v. Superior Court, 450 U.S. 464 (1981) ... 56
NOW NYS et al. v. Terry et al., 697 F. Supp. 1324 (S.D.N.Y. 1988), appeals consolidated as No. 88-7873 (2d Cir. 1988)
... 11, 12
NOW v. Scheidler, et al., No. 86 C7888 (N.D. Ill., filed Jan. 30, 1989) ... 11
People of California v. Stewart, No. M508197, slip op. (Cal. Mun. Ct. San Diego Cty., filed Feb. 26, 1987) ... 44
Reproductive Health Services v. Webster, 851 F.2d 1071 (8th Cir. 1988) ... 4, 62
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) ... 4, passim *v Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,
476 U.S. 747 (1986) ... 9, 64
West Virginia State Board of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1942) ... 10
STATUTES
Mo. Stat. Ann. 1.205.1 ... 53, 62
Mo. Stat. Ann. 188.029 ... 63
Mo. Stat. Ann. 188.205 ... 63
Mo. Stat. Ann. 188.210 ... 63
Mo. Stat. Ann. 188.215 ... 63
LEGISLATIVE SOURCE MATERIALS
Bluebook, Women in the Work Force: Pay Equity: Hearing on S. 98-1050 before the Joint Economic Committee, 98th
Cong. 2nd Sess. 9-14 (1984) ... 37
ADMINISTRATIVE SOURCE MATERIALS
43 Fed. Reg. 4231 (1981) ... 55
Bureau of Census, U.S. Dep't of Commence, Child Support and Alimony: 1985 Current Population Reports, Series P-23,
No. 152 (1987) ... 39
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 4
Bureau of the Census, U.S. Dep't of Commerce, Money Income of Families and Persons in the United States: 1979-1980;
*vi Current Population Reports P-60, No. 129, table 53 ... 37
FBI, Uniform Crime Reports for the United States, (1987) ... 59
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, A Growing Crisis: Disadvantaged Women and Their Children (1983) ... 40
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1 Comparable Worth: Issues for the 80's, 200 (1984) ... 37
U.S. Dep't. of Commerce, Statistical Abstracts of the United States 1987 ... 57
Women's Bureau, U.S. Dep't. of Labor, Facts on Working Women No. 86-2 (1986) ... 38
OTHER LEGAL AUTHORITIES
Ely, The Wages of Crying Wolf: A Comment on Roe v. Wade, 82 Yale L.J. 920 (1973) ... 6
S. Estrich, Real Rape (1987) ... 59
Law, Women, Work, Welfare, and the Preservation of Patriarchy, 131 U. Penn. L. Rev. 1249 (1983) ... 33
C. MacKinnon, Privacy v. Equality in Feminism Unmodified (1987) ... 55
Note, Pregnancy Police: The Health Policy and Legal Implications of Punishing Pregnant Women for Harm to Their
Fetuses, 16 NYU Rev. L. & Soc. Ch. 277 (1987-88) ... 44
*vii Regan, Rewriting Roe v. Wade, 77 Mich. L. Rev. 1569 (1979) ... 52
D. Richards, Toleration and the Constitution 268 (1986) ... 6
L. Walker, The Battered Woman (1979) ... 42
L. Weitzman, The Divorce Revolution (1985) ... 39
Williams, Deficiencies in Child Support: Consequences for Children and Implications for Courts, 12 St. Ct. J. 4 (1988) ...
39
OTHER AUTHORITIES
ACOG Committee Opinion No. 55, Patient Choice: Maternal-Fetal Conflict (Oct. 1987) ... 45
Asch, Reproductive Technology and Disability in Reproductive Laws for the 1990's 59 (N. Taub & S. Cohen eds. 1988)
... 47
Atrash et al., Legal Abortion Mortality and General Anesthesia, 158 Am. J. Obst. Gyn. 420-424 (1988) ... 24
Burnhill, Intrauterine Contraception in Fertility Control 271 (Carson et al. eds. 1985) ... 56
Burros, Women: Out of the House But Not Out of the Kitchen, N.Y. Times, Feb. 24, 1988, at A1 ... 34
*viii Cates & Rochat, Illegal Abortion in the United States: 1972-1974, 8 Fam. Plan. Persp. 2 (1976) ... 24, 25
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 5
Cates et al., Legalized Abortion: Effect on National Trends of Maternal and Abortion-Related Mortality (1940-1976),
132 Am. J. Ob. & Gyn. 211 (1978) ... 17, 18
Cates, Legal Abortion: The Public Health Record, 215 Science 1586 (1982) ... 12, 13
Cruver, Husbands and Housework: It's still an Uneven Load, USA Today, Aug. 20, 1986, at 5D. ... 34
R. Dobash & R. Dobash, Violence Against Wives (1979) ... 42
Edelman, Maternal and Child Health Care: A Deepening Crisis, 1985 N.Y.S. J. of Med. 128 ... 44
D. Finklehor & K. Yllo, Licence to Rape: Sexual Abuse of Wives (1985) ... 59
L. Genevie & E. Margolies, The Motherhood Report: How Women Feel About Being Mothers (1987) ... 33
C. Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development (1982) ... 28, 29
Henshaw & Silverman, The Characteristics and Prior Contraceptive Use of U.S. Abortion Patients, 20 Fam. Plan. Persp.
158 (1985) ... 56, 58
*ix Henshaw et al., A Portrait of American Women Who Obtain Abortions, 17 Fam. Plan. Persp. 90 (1985) ... 51
Hilberman, Overview: The Wife Beater's Wife Reconsidered, in The Gender Gap in Psychotherapy 213 (P. Rieker and
E. Carmen eds. 1984) ... 42
Hofferth & Moore, Women's Employment and Marriage, in The Subtle Revolution: Women At Work (R. Smith ed.
1979) ... 34
Johnson, Contraception: The Morning After Pill, 16 Fam. Plan. Persp. 2661 (1984) ... 55
S. Kamerman, A. Kahn & P. Kingston, Maternity Policies and Working Women (1983) ... 36
Kleiman, The Last Taboo: Case on L.I. Pierces the Silence on Incest, N.Y. Times, Sept. 28, 1987, at Al ... 61
Kleinman et al., Use of Ambulatory Medical Care by the Poor: Another Look at Equity, 19 Med. Care 1011 (1981) ... 44
Kolder et al., Court-Ordered Obstetrical Interventions, 316 New Eng. J. Med. 1192, 1194 (1987) ... 54
L. Lader, Abortion 2 (1966) ... 12
R. Langley & R. Levy, Wife Beating: The Silent Crisis (1977) ... 42
L.A. Times, Oct. 20, 1988 at ..., ... 49
J. Legge, Abortion Policy (1985) ... 24
*x E. Messer & K. May, Back Rooms: Voices from the Illegal Abortion Era (1988) ... 12
H. Morgentaler, Abortion and Contraception (1982) ... 14
Morris & von Wagner, Interception: The Use of Postovulatory Estrogens to Prevent Implantation, 115 Am. J. Obst. &
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 6
Gyn. 101 (1973) ... 55

National Abortion Federation, Incidents of Violence Disruption Against Abortion Providers (1977-88) ... 11
National Women's Political Caucus, National Directory of Women Elected Officials (1987) ... 9
N.Y. Times, Dec. 4, 1971, at 37 ... 24
N.Y. Times, Mar. 15, 1989 at A16 ... 40
N.Y. Times, May 8, 1962, at 5 ... 24
S.L. Romney, et al., Gynecology & Obstetrics: The Health Care of Women, (2nd ed. 1981) ... 43
Rosenberg & Rosenthal, Reproductive Mortality in the United States: Recent Trends and Methodologic Considerations,
77 Am. J. Pub. Health 833 (1987) ... 24, 25
D. Russell, Sexual Exploitation: Rape, Child Sexual Abuse and Workplace Harassment 180-94 (1984) ... 61
R. Schwarz, Septic Abortion 7 (1968) ... 12, 13
*xi Spitz et al. Third--Trimester Induced Abortion in Georgia, 1979 and 1980, 73 Amer. J. of Public Health 594 (1983)
... 52
Tietze & Lewit, Epidemiology of Induced Abortion in, Abortion and Sterilization ... 17
Torres & Forrest, Why do Women Have Abortions?, 20 Fam. Plan. Persp. 169, (1988) ... 32
D. Whitcomb, E. Shapiro and L. Stellwagen, When the Victim Is a Child: Issues for Judges and Prosecutors 4-5, 84
(1985) ... 61
*1 INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE
[FN1]
FN1. The parties have consented to the filing of this brief, and the letters of consent are being filed with the
Clerk of the Court pursuant to Rule 36.2 of the Rules of this Court.
I chose an abortion.
I write now, not because my experience was particularly grim - it wasn't and that's the point. I was able to get a safe legal
abortion, unlike my maternal great-grandmother who aborted herself with a knitting needle. I got care... counseling...advice from clinic staff. My great-grandmother got none of these. Perhaps the worst part of her experience - the
most trenchant lesson - is the silence surrounding it. My mother whispered the story to me late one night, still afraid ....
L-278
A. The Amici Curiae
We, the amici curiae submitting this brief, are not organizations, religious groups or politicians. We are women. We are
among the millions of American women who have faced an unplanned or problematic pregnancy and decided that having
an abortion, legal or illegal, was the right *2 choice for us, our loved ones and our lives. Some of us have given our
names; others of us have not. Those of us who disclose our names sacrifice our privacy in order to preserve our liberty,
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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and the liberty of all women to choose to have safe, legal abortions. Many of us helped to write this brief by writing the
[FN2]
letters
which informed it and which are extensively quoted in it. These letters describe our experiences of abortion
and our decision-*3 making processes in choosing to have an abortion.
FN2. The letters of the amici curiae are lodged with the Clerk of this Court. They are filed in categories. The
first contains 568 letters written by those of us who have had an abortion and appear before this Court under our
real names. The second contains 137 letters written by those of us who have had an abortion and appear under
the pseudonym, Jane Roe. The letters as lodged will be referenced by these categories as Letter (L-) and
Roe Letter (RL-) respectively. In the lodged letters, the category (L) is coded with sequential numbers and
the category (RL) is coded X plus a sequential number. Letters quoted in the brief are reproduced in full in
Appendix B.
B. Friends of the Amici Curiae
We are individuals, women and men, who have not had abortions but wish to join the courageous women who have, and
to explain to the Court how critically important it is to women, their loved ones, friends, colleagues, and the people who
provide them with the health care they need, that abortion remain legal, safe and available. As the friends of the amici
curiae, we have also helped to write this brief by writing about the impact upon our lives of the experiences of our loved
[FN3]
ones and friends who had legal or illegal abortions.
FN3. The letters cited or quoted in this brief written by friends of the amici curiae (FL-) are reproduced in full
in Appendix C.
*4 Together we urge this Court to affirm the decision of the court of appeals below, Reproductive Health Services v.
Webster, 851 F.2d 1071 (8th Cir. 1988), striking sections of the Missouri statute, which significantly restrict access to
and the availability of abortion, and violate women's fundamental liberty and privacy rights. Moreover, we urge this
Court to preserve for future generations the principles set forth in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and reaffirmed in
subsequent cases.
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
For compelling physical, economic, social and moral reasons, women have sought and will seek to have abortions. Roe
v. Wade stopped state interference in women's abortion decisions, thus ending the terrible health crisis created by the
criminalization of abortion, and finally *5 affording women their first opportunity for true liberty. This Court wisely recognized that only a woman, in consultation with her physician, not a distant state legislature, can determine whether or
not she should bear a child. To reverse or significantly modify Roe v. Wade, as appellants and their supporting amici
curiae urge, would subject women again to profoundly intrusive and grossly punitive state action, contrary to the principle of individual rights embodied in the Constitution. As excerpts from the letters from amici will show, Roe v. Wade
wisely placed the primary decision-making for abortion in the hands of women, the people best situated to make this decision.
ARGUMENT
Inevitably a woman's decision whether to bear a child or to have an abortion is a resolution of sharply competing demands. When a woman is confronted with that *6 decision, she not only considers her responsibilities for the well-being
of the life she may bring forth but also examines her own life, health and essential well-being and the well-being of her
spouse or significant other, her parents, her child[ren], and others close to her, all of whom unlike the unborn child
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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[FN4]
[have] begun to imagine a future,
and whose lives will be drastically altered by the added commitment and responsibility that *7 inevitably would result from her childbearing. Finally, she must weigh her obligations to the larger
community and to her spiritual values. Each woman faced with this decision will weigh various considerations differently in new and unique circumstances.
FN4. Ely, The Wages of Crying Wolf: A Comment on Roe v. Wade, 82 Yale L.J. 920, 927 (1973). Ely acknowledged that the mother, unlike the unborn child, has begun to imagine a future for herself strikes me as morally
quite significant. Id. at 927. But Ely's analysis failed to grasp that prohibitions on abortion encumber what
many now reasonably regard as a highly conscientious choice by women regarding their bodies, their sexuality
and gender, and the nature and place of pregnancy, birth and childbearing in their personal and ethical lives. The
abortion choice is thus one of the choices essential to the just moral independence of women. D. Richards, Toleration and the Constitution 268, 231-81 (1986).
Many women who believe that bearing a child would cause them to fail in deeply felt obligations to their own or other
already existing lives decide against childbearing and consider themselves morally bound, indeed compelled, to act upon
that decision. Whatever her decision, it is one that only the woman herself, aided by the advice of her physician, can
make, given her unique position of knowledge and responsibility.
This Court in Roe v. Wade wisely responded to the reality of women's lives by recognizing that decision to fall within *8
the constitutionally protected zone of privacy:
This right of privacy...is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.
410 U.S. at 153.
With this simple acknowledgment, the Court addressed a woman's reality throughout the years of her childbearing potential and ensured a woman's right to liberty in the full sense that the right to liberty is understood under our Constitu[FN5]
tion.
It *9 took a step toward correcting the extreme imbalance that was locked into our system of law and govern[FN6]
ment by the systematic subordination and exclusion of women
and it recognized that the abortion decision was exactly the kind of decision-making that should be protected by the Bill of Rights:
FN5. Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399 (1923).
Subsequently this Court observed that protecting women's abortion decisions is critical to women's equality and
that the woman's decisions falls properly within:
[a] certain private sphere of individual liberty...kept largely beyond the reach of government... [which] extends
to women as well as to men. Few decisions are more personal and intimate, more properly private, or more basic
to individual dignity and autonomy than a woman's decision -- with the guidance of her physician and within the
limits specified in Roe -- whether to end her pregnancy. A woman's right to make that choice freely is fundamental. Any other result, in our view, would protect inadequately a central part of the sphere of liberty that our
law guarantees equally to all.
Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 476 U.S. 747, 772 (1986).
FN6. The exclusion of women from our legislatures has not been cured. See, e.g., National Women's Political
Caucus, National Directory of Women Elected Officials 97 (1987) (15% women in Missouri state legislature).
The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to
place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 9
courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other
fundamental *10 rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.
West Virginia State Board of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638 (1942).
[FN7]
Appellants argue to the contrary that the decision whether or not to bear a child is best made by state legislators,
and implicitly stereotype women's decisions to have abortions as immoral, a matter of convenience or selfish. The reasons for which women have decided to have abortions soundly rebut Appellants' argument and it is appropriate for this
Court to consider the issues as they really affect women's lives. As one amicus has written:
FN7. See Brief for Appellants; Brief for Amicus Curiae United States Supporting Appellants.
So much of the dialogue, argument and confrontation regarding this issue... have [sic] seemed to take place in a vacuum...as a contrast to real life, real people.... FL-240
*11 The integrity of each woman's decision will be respected and protected only by this Court's consideration of the real[FN8]
ity of women's lives and its strong reaffirmance of Roe.
FN8. The intrusiveness and brutal indignity with which individuals touted as passively disobedient, see Brief for
the Southern Center for Law and Ethics as Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellants, attack women's choice argues that women need the strongest possible protection of their privacy and liberty in connection with their determination whether or not to bear a child. See National Abortion Federation, Incidents of Violence & Disruption Against Abortion Providers (1977-88) (Number of Reported Incidents: 32 bombings, 42 arson attacks, 37
attempted bombings and arson attacks, 222 invasions, 220 incidents of vandalism, 46 assaults and battery; 65
death threats, 2 kidnappings, 20 burglaries, 162 incidents of hate mail and calls, 216 bomb threats, 675 pickets,
blockades of 138 clinics).
See also, e.g., NOW v. Scheidler, et al., No. 86 C7888 First Amended Complaint (N.D. Ill., filed Jan. 30, 1989)
(a pattern of extortion and conspiracy (including theft of 4000 fetal remains) in violation of racketeering and antitrust laws by Joe Scheidler, Randall Terry and others); NOW NYS et al. v. Terry et al., 697 F. Supp. 1324
(S.D.N.Y. 1988), appeals consolidated as No. 88-7873 (2d Cir. 1988); L-42, 47, 306; RL-22.
*12 I. As the Experiences of Women Show, Roe v. Wade is a Wise and Just Decision and its Relevance Has Not Altered
or Changed
Prior to Roe v. Wade, this country was in the midst of a medical, social and legal crisis caused by the illegality of abortion. Despite the fact that abortion was illegal or highly restricted in its availability throughout the United States before
Roe v. Wade, women did have abortions, for compelling reasons. See generally, E. Messer & K. May, Back Rooms:
Voices from the Illegal Abortion Era (1988). The numbers of illegally induced abortions in the United States in the
[FN9]
1960's ranged up to estimates of 1.5 million a year.
Women risked their lives and health in order to meet their *13
inevitable need for abortion. These complex problems were hidden because the longstanding legal prohibitions against
abortion, as well as the inherently private nature of the decision, silenced women and their friends.
FN9. R. Schwarz, Septic Abortion 7 (1968); L. Lader, Abortion 2 (1966); Cates, Legal Abortion: The Public
Health Record, 215 Science 1586 (1982).
A. Criminalization and Excessive Regulation of Abortion Endangered the Lives and Health of Women and Hurt
Their Loved Ones
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The conditions under which illegal abortions were performed were bad. It was estimated that as many as 5,000 American women die[d] each year as a direct result of criminal abortion. The figure of 5,000 may be a minimum estimate, inasmuch as such deaths are mislabeled or unreported. R. Schwarz, supra n.9, at 7. See FL-17, 27, 33, 41, 50, 127, 166, 170,
172, 179. As these letter excerpts reveal, friends of amici curiae have not forgotten the women who died as a result of illegal abortions:
*14 In 1965 I had to care for a 19 year old girl as she lay dying of infection following an illegal abortion. The fact that
she denied having an abortion up to the time of her death and the tearful disclosure by her mother after her death underscored the fear these two people were experiencing.... FL-179 (nurse)
***
It was over! I want to shout. My closest childhood and young adult friend, whose abortion on her dining room table...with no sterilization and the crudest of instruments...is already dead. Why do I have to fight for her life again? FL170
***
I have vivid memories of caring for a women who had used a caustic substance on herself.... She went into renal failure
.... She did not survive! FL-127 (Nurse)
***
I lost my mother at the age of 7 years because at that time it was illegal to obtain an abortion even for medical reasons....
FL-41
Women who did survive illegal abortion were likely to experience health complications.
the illegal abortions were often extremely dangerous and painful:
[FN10]
As these women recall,
FN10. H. Morgentaler, Abortion and Contraception 110-11 (1982).

*15 In December of 1969 I became pregnant and chose to terminate the pregnancy.... The abortion was performed on the
bed with my legs resting on two chairs. I experienced an extreme amount of pain and was told that if I didn't shut-up he
[the doctor] would leave and not complete the abortion. After he was finished I layed in bed for 18 hours unable to get up
or eat. When I finally found the strength to get out of bed, I staggered into the bathroom, sat down on the toilet and
passed out, only to wake up hours later and find out I had been laying against a steam hot water pipe and received second
degree burns on my shoulder; scars I have to this day. Somehow I made the trip back home. Twenty four hours later I
was in such extreme pain that I called a doctor. I was admitted to the hospital immediately and diagnosed with peritonitis
, punctured uterus and colon. My doctor told the person who brought me in that he did not expect me to live. I spent 16
days in the hospital and had to have major surgery to have the damage done to me repaired.... L-296
***
I was the first person in a family of 13 children to graduate from high school. I was just past my 20th birthday.... I was
pregnant.... I was told that I shouldn't be afraid. Don't worry. There is a guy in ... Ohio who is safe. All the mob guys
take their girlfriends there....
We arrived at dusk and pulled into an alley behind a very old house.... I remember only that the man had said, *16 You
will probably have some pain, but you'll be okay.
I waited, afraid of what was going to happen, and then the pain began. Hour after hour of the most intense pain I have
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 11
ever experienced. Then the bleeding began, a hemorrhage so bad the memory of it still frightens me. The hours in the
bedroom of my apartment, my roommate begging me to call a doctor, go to the hospital, call my mother, do something
are still with me. But...I was afraid to do anything, because I was convinced that...I would go to jail....
Finally, the pain stopped and eventually the bleeding stopped, too. I returned to work, and within a few weeks realized I
was still not well. My body was filled with infection. Still frightened about doing something illegal, I went to a doctor
and told him that I was sick but did not tell him why.... He warned me that if I had any more heavy bleeding, that I must
go to the hospital immediately because I was very anemic from losing so much blood.
Immediately after that visit, I did begin to hemorrhage again, and woke up in.... General Hospital with blood transfusions
and IV, and the doctor bending over my bed with tears in his eyes, saying Why didn't you tell me you had an abortion?
I looked back and answered very truthfully, Because I thought you would put me in jail. Eventually I healed, went
back to work, went on with my life, but kept the memory of my abortion buried in a dark and secret place.
That's my story. Even after all these years, tears spring to my eyes *17 when I think of how frightened I was, how young
and desperate and how vulnerable.
I have spent a great deal of my life and my energy dedicated to keeping abortion safe and legal for women.L-267
A large number of illegal abortions were self-induced or performed by unskilled and untrained personnel working under
dangerous septic conditions, unaccountable to professional guidelines and safeguards and unreached by ordinary govern[FN11]
ment licensing procedures or other safeguards.
Medical procedures, record-keeping and referral techniques were
[FN12]
guided by concerns about detection, not best medical judgment.
FN11. See generally, Tietze & Lewit, Epidemiology of Induced Abortion in, Abortion and Sterilization: Medical
and Social Aspects 41, 54-56 (J. Hodgson, ed. 1981).
FN12. See Cates et al., Legalized Abortion: Effect on National Trends of Maternal and Abortion-Related Mortality (1940-1976), 132 Am. J. Ob. & Gyn. 211, 213 (1978) (mortality from induced abortions decreased after
abortion legalized and safer legal procedures substituted for more dangerous illegal procedures).
*18 The women received treatment which was often delayed under conditions of severe physical and emotional stress.
The process was degrading. Follow up care was entirely lacking or inadequate. These dangerous and humiliating condi[FN13]
tions existed precisely because abortions were illegal; they are graphically described by some amici:
FN13. The amici curiae describe a wide range of experiences, many illustrating the horrible conditions existing
when abortion was illegal or excessively regulated. L-1, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35,
40, 45, 46, 49, 52, 53, 54, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 79, 87, 89, 94, 96, 100, 101, 107, 111, 113, 116,
118, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 137, 140, 145, 150, 153, 154, 156, 161, 162, 164, 167, 169, 171, 181, 184, 186,
189, 190, 193, 200, 205, 206, 208, 211, 215, 217, 219, 222, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 232, 233, 236, 240, 241,
243, 247, 248, 257, 259, 260, 262, 263, 264, 267, 269, 274, 279, 280, 282, 287, 288, 291, 293, 294, 296, 298,
301, 303, 304, 305, 310, 312, 314, 315, 316, 320, 321, 324, 326, 327, 334, 335, 337, 338, 339, 340, 352, 354,
355, 358, 359, 360, 363, 365, 366, 367, 368, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 378, 382, 384, 385, 389, 393,
395, 396, 405, 406, 412, 413, 414, 417, 423, 430, 436, 442, 443; RL-4, 12, 19, 21, 37, 43, 45, 59, 60, 62, 65, 67,
70, 72, 75, 77, 79, 84, 85.
*19 I am a 60 year old woman deeply troubled by the possibility that women's constitutional right to determine their own
reproductive rights is being threatened and may be taken away....
When I was in my twenties I had an illegal abortion. There were no other options that I saw at that time. Because of the
illegality, it was extremely difficult to find someone who would discuss how to find someone to help me. People were
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 12
afraid. As a consequence, when I finally found a source I had gone beyond the time of a safe procedure. I lied to the
doctor because I knew he wouldn't do it if I told him how far along I was.... He insisted I come by myself which I did.
Is there any way I can describe my fear. He was unclean, he joked a lot, his hands were rough, his breath was bad. He
forcefully approached me to have sex with him because what harm would there be under the circumstance? That, of
course, explained his reason for insisting that I come alone. So, on top of the fear for my physical safety in that situation,
the agony of decision about what I was doing, the need to keep this secret away from everyone I knew and face it alone,
there was the disgust, repulsion and deep fear that if *20 I didn't do what he wanted he would send me away....
I never want another woman to have to experience what I want through. My plea is that simple. L-130
See L-32 in Appendix B.
Finally, of course, many women who did not have access to legal abortions suffered the health risks and deeply scarring
experience of forced childbearing.
At the age of 19, through an accident and naivete, I got pregnant.... Having neither the money nor the nerve to face a
back-alley abortion, I chose to have the baby....
With some financial help from my parents, we had just bought a little one-room house in another town when we found I
was pregnant again. The birth of twins, welfare supplementing my husband's meager income, a one-room house and
shaky beginnings exploded a bad marriage....
With help from Welfare and my parents.... I got a job in my field, went off AFDC, and have been a contributing member
of society ever since.
But this is not the happy ending to some fairy tale.... I have three children whose beginnings were the result of a slip-up,
youthful carelessness and naivete, and a government that claimed control over my body....
*21 [T]he kids have not done well. Each of them has had run-ins with the law, one is on probation until her eighteenth
birthday, all are substance-abusers, it appears none will graduate from high school, and there's a good chance they'll all
be chronically unemployed for years to come.
My twin daughters have had four abortions between them. For each, the first was at the age of fourteen....
I love my children dearly, but I think they got a bad break, starting their lives in such difficult circumstances. L-318
B. Before Roe v. Wade, Women Were Punished for Having Abortions, Which Silenced All Women on This Critical Topic
Those amici curiae who recall the days when abortion was illegal, also recall the silence surrounding the topic. If a woman admitted having or needing an abortion, it was only to her most trusted friend or family member. To have an abortion or to aid someone in having an abortion was to risk arrest and prosecution or involvement in legal proceedings.
*22 In late 1955, I was pregnant again. .... I wanted an abortion. But the political atmosphere of the fifties was different
from the thirties [when I had had two earlier abortions]. There were crackdowns on suspected abortion rings. Doctors
and hospitals were being surveilled....
[After obtaining an illegal abortion performed by a doctor I became extremely sick and my husband took me to the emergency room at our health maintenance organization].
I was placed on a gurney to await a doctor. I knew that for a physician to diagnose and treat effectively, I must give him
all pertinent information. I told him I had had an abortion, and as he could see, it hadn't worked too well. That admission
was my mistake. I simply should have said I had miscarried. Now, suddenly, nurses and doctor left the room. They could
not admit me, yet. I was very weak and hot and scared. About 45 minutes later two men in street clothes came in. They
were deputies from the District Attorney's office, and proceeded to question me: who did it, where, when. I refused to answer, and they told me I had committed a criminal offense and could be the second woman to go to... in California history for this offense, unless I cooperated.... The deputies continued to alternately threaten and cajol [sic]. It wasn't hard
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 13
for me to be silent; I was very sick. I was admitted to the hospital.... My lawyer came every day to confer, for the D.A.
was pursuing my case and I was to be charged with a statutory offense....
*23 For the next two months, men from the D.A.'s office came to the door, phoned, tapped our phone, and pressured both
me and my attorney to give in.... Finally my attorney... retained one of the best criminal attorneys in [the city] (a man I
could never have afforded) in a friendship arrangement, who persuaded me that I must accept the D.A.'s proposition to
be a State's witness. When I took the stand I could plead the Fifth. I felt miserable about protecting myself with the
Fifth Amendment. But my attorney said, they're out to break what they think is a big abortion ring, and they think it's
your man, and they aren't going to let go. So, I went to make a deposition.
The questions I was asked and the innuendos that were made were offensive, racist and sexual: was the fee low in return
for sex?; did he fondle you?; remarks suggesting that my husband was not responsible for the pregnancy; and, of
course, who, what, when and where. I simply could not remember any names or addresses.... Eventually I was subpoenaed as a witness in, [the criminal case against the doctor who performed the abortion] I was not on trial. I was only a
witness. But I was nervous, and shaken when I had to face the defendant and the catheter....The doctor from [the hospital] (also called as a witness) met me in the hall before the trial. He said he was terribly sorry that I had to go through
all this. He had been a brand new staff member when I was brought into Admissions, and he simply was not sure of hospital policy. If only he had not *24 asked... Policy apparently, was not to ask! L-294
***
This story is not unique. Other women were dragged through the public and private drama of prosecution for abortion.
[FN14]
See L-568 (story set forth in Appendix B).
FN14. See also, N.Y. Times, Dec. 4, 1971, at 37, cols. 1-2 (Shirley Wheeler convicted of manslaughter following her abortion in Florida); N.Y. Times, May 8, 1962, at 5, col. 1-3 (Prosecution of Hunter College woman and
Bronx N.Y. doctor for abortion); Crissman v. State of Texas, 245 S.W. 438 (Tex. Crim. App. 1922).
3. Since Roe v. Wade, Abortion Has Become an Extremely Safe Procedure and Women Experience It Without Significant Trauma
As soon as abortion became legal, the procedure became extremely safe and has become increasingly so.
ment *25 conditions became humane and subject to proper follow up care.
[FN15]
Treat-
FN15. See J. Legge, Abortion Policy (1985); Atrash et al., Legal Abortion Mortality and General Anesthesia,
158 Am. J. Obst. & Gyn. 420 (1988); Rosenberg & Rosenthal, Reproductive Mortality in the United States: Recent Trends and Methodologic Considerations, 77 Am. J. Pub. Health 833, 834 (1987) (reproduction-related
mortality rates for 1982 were as follows: abortion - 0.4 deaths per 100,000 procedures; contraceptives - 1.3 per
100,000 users; full-term pregnancies - 10.0 deaths per 100,000 full-term pregnancies); Cates & Rochat, Illegal
Abortions in the United States: 1972-1974, 8 Fam. Plan. Persp. 86, 92 (1976) (illegal abortion death rate is approximately eight times greater than for legal abortions).
[FN16]
[FN17]
The experience is no longer traumatic;
the response of most women to the *26 experience is relief.
The
crisis posed by criminalization of abortion for women's physical and mental health has ended. Moreover, this country no
longer punishes or threatens to punish a woman who acts according to her conscience to end her pregnancy.
FN16. Many of the amici curiae included in their letters descriptions of how safe, clean, caring and otherwise supportive the medical treatment was that they received after Roe v. Wade. L-8, 24, 25, 42, 46, 53, 58, 61,
88, 89, 90, 95, 103, 106, 121, 122, 133, 155, 158, 160, 164, 170, 176, 185, 205, 207, 210, 214, 218, 229, 238,
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 14
246, 248, 250, 252, 269, 272, 278, 290, 295, 306, 328, 332, 333, 334, 353, 376, 402, 427, 429, 432, 440; RL-6,
10, 22, 34, 45, 54, 55, 73, 78, 86, 89, 93. Several of these women contrasted these good experiences with bad
experiences they or friends of theirs had with respect to the medical treatment and the conditions under which it
was received before Roe. L-53, 65, 68, 89, 113, 164, 248, 269.
FN17. E.g., L-17, 44, 61, 82, 101, 116, 121, 163, 175, 178, 183, 189, 206, 208, 216, 302, 311, 340, 369, 379,
423, 456, 459, 516, 558, 565, 567; RL-22, 32, 49, 53, 65, 69, 84, 107. See Brief of Amicus Curiae American
Psychological Association in Support of Appellees (discussing studies demonstrating positive mental health effects of abortion and discrediting studies to contrary cited by some amici curiae supporting Appellants).
II. For a Woman, the Decision Whether to Bear a Child or to Have an Abortion is a Profound Judgment Reflecting Not
Only Responsibility for Herself and to a Potential Life but Also to Loved Ones, to Community and to Spiritual Values;
According to Our System of Limited Government, that Decision Must be Left to Her
I have heard it said that abortion is just a convenience, especially for middle-class women. I assure you, pregnancy is no
mere inconvenience. A *27 pregnancy consumes a woman's body, energies and resources for nine months, many times
with complications, sometimes at risk to the woman's life. After pregnancy, there is a child, life's most sacred responsibility, for eighteen years, for life. I am not well-to-do. I cannot offer my children the world on a silver platter, but I feel
that I and every woman must have the right to offer her child the best chance for life that she can. Every woman must
have the right to enter into this life-absorbing responsibility when she decides that she can. L-140
***
Since my abortion I've listened with interest to the controversy and I've even written to and talked with some of the
pro-lifers to see if there was something I hadn't been told.... I've found that most of them leave out women's circumstances in their arguments.... As good as many of their intentions may be, their vision tends to be narrowly focused so
that they forget to consider the true probable outcome of what they propose. Many forget to account for circumstances
such as the life of an unwanted child, the equally immoral behavior of the men who made the women pregnant, and the
unfortunate financial realities of parenthood in America. L-121
In deciding whether to bear a child or have an abortion, a woman thoughtfully considers the realities of motherhood, her
*28 obligations to herself and her family, and the social and economic injustices which she (and her offspring) must face.
Her assessment is highly contextual and personal. Futhermore, it is moral--deriving from her diverse duties and her abil[FN18]
ity to fulfill them, which only she can evaluate.
FN18. See C. Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development 65-105 (1982).
Women's decision-making on such difficult matters has, however, rarely been appreciated or respected. Indeed it has
been denigrated. This was particularly so when abortion was criminal. But it is also denigrated by laws such as those in
Missouri which interfere with women's decision-making. As one researcher, studying moral decision-making by women
with respect to abortion has said:
*29 The moral imperative that emerges repeatedly in interviews with women is an injunction to care, a responsibility to
discern and alleviate the real and recognizable trouble of this world....
Only when substance is given to skeletal lives of hypothetical people is it possible to consider the social injustice that
their moral problems may reflect and to imagine the individual suffering their occurrence may signify or their resolution
engender.
C. Gilligan, supra note 18, at 100.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 15
These are considerations not within the competence of a government to judge in the abstract, or to regulate fairly.
A. Whether to Bear a Child or Have an Abortion is a Highly Contextualized Uniquely Personal Decision That Is Not
Within the Competence of a Distant Government Entity to Make or Fairly Control
Appellants and amicus curiae United States argue that distant state legislatures should be permitted to impose their abstract judgments concerning abortion on women. This position ignores the critical fact that a woman's decision whether
and when to bear a child is a uniquely personal private decision *30 requiring a highly specific analysis by the woman of
her own situation.
Women who have made public their reasons for choosing abortion describe widely varying circumstances that compel
their decision. Despite the differing circumstances one truth emerges: only the woman can best decide whether she is
able to care for a new, completely dependent, life while continuing to respond adequately to already existing obligations
and responsibilities. This is a profound moral determination; only the woman involved can make it.
Women express a variety of concerns in assessing their responsibilities including competing demands within the family,
[FN19]
[FN20]
lack *31 of adequate financial resources,
and *32 existing health problems incompatible with pregnancy
[FN21]
[FN22]
and childbirth.
Usually more than one factor is important.
FN19. E.g., L-1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 24, 29, 30, 33, 36, 40, 42, 44, 45, 46, 54, 59, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 72, 74,
78, 80, 84, 87, 88, 89, 93, 94, 96, 98, 99, 101, 116, 125, 126, 129, 132, 133, 138, 140, 142, 144, 152, 156, 160,
168, 172, 173, 175, 178, 180, 181, 182, 183, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 198, 199, 201, 205, 213, 214, 215, 219,
221, 224, 226, 227, 228, 240, 242, 243, 247, 249, 252, 260, 263, 271, 277, 284, 287, 290, 291, 297, 303, 311,
313, 314, 317, 318, 321, 322, 325, 332, 334, 335, 342, 343, 346, 348, 352, 356, 358, 360, 362, 363, 368, 370,
373, 375, 380, 382, 384, 386, 388, 397, 404, 405, 409, 412, 416, 418, 422, 428, 434, 436, 437, 443, 447, 448,
449, 450, 452, 455, 460, 463, 466, 467, 471, 476, 483, 484, 489, 493, 501, 507, 508, 518, 521, 525, 526, 530,
531, 540, 549, 554, 556, 558, 562, 564, 565, 567; RL-2, 3, 4, 12, 27, 28, 29, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 47, 55,
57, 62, 65, 66, 68, 73, 74, 78, 85, 86, 102, 103, 106, 111, 117, 121, 127.
FN20. E.g., L-2, 10, 12, 17, 18, 21, 27, 31, 33, 36, 39, 40, 43, 46, 59, 60, 61, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 82, 84, 85, 98,
99, 108, 109, 112, 113, 116, 117, 118, 123, 124, 125, 129, 134, 135, 138, 140, 141, 142, 146, 152, 154, 160,
162, 164, 170, 171, 173, 174, 179, 182, 187, 189, 190, 191, 196, 212, 220, 240, 242, 243, 250, 259, 260, 261,
281, 284, 286, 288, 302, 308, 322, 324, 325, 331, 332, 335, 336, 339, 342, 343, 346, 353, 360, 368, 369, 370,
373, 374, 375 401, 405, 412, 415, 421, 422, 430, 432, 439, 440, 443, 450, 454, 455, 457, 459, 460, 462, 466,
472, 475, 478, 480, 483, 486, 496, 497, 499, 508, 511, 512, 522, 526, 535, 541, 542, 545, 549, 555, 558, 560,
562, 566; RL-1, 3, 12, 14, 15, 23, 29, 31, 32, 34, 40, 41, 42, 46, 47, 48, 51, 54, 58, 61, 64, 74, 75, 81, 82, 83,
106, 107, 111, 114, 115, 118, 119, 129, 131, 132.
FN21. E.g., L-15, 22, 50, 54, 63, 66, 90, 92, 93, 113, 117, 120, 138, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 174, 183, 186, 199,
203, 206, 208, 216, 218, 234, 245, 252, 259, 277, 281, 320, 333, 345, 357, 370, 380, 382, 386, 397, 400, 401,
404, 409, 421, 429, 441, 446, 458, 462, 472, 474, 476, 479, 486, 493, 497, 530, 541, 554, 561, 567; RL-14, 16,
23, 26, 32, 78, 84, 103, 121, 126, 127, 129, 130.
FN22. Torres & Forrest, Why do Women Have Abortions?, 20 Fam. Plan. Persp. 169 (1988) (survey discussing
reasons women elect to have abortions).
Women weigh these concerns, as well as the highly demanding responsibilities that accompany motherhood. Most of the
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 16
women who have abortions choose at some time to become mothers, but they choose to do so at times when they are financially, physically and emotionally prepared properly to care for a child. Their assessment of when the *33 time is and
[FN23]
is not right is both caring and realistic.
FN23. Over and over women who have had abortions say that anyone in favor of life must start first by addressing and changing the arduous conditions under which most women and their children live. See generally
Law, Women, Work, Welfare, and the Preservation of Patriarchy, 131 U. Penn. L. Rev. 1249, 1249 (1983)
(federal labor and welfare policy resolve the conflict between the traditional assumption that women cannot
and should not work outside the home and the reality that they do, in ways that are systematically injurious to
women and families)
1. Only the Woman Can Determine How Best to Meet the Often Sharply Competing Demands Within Her Family
Mothering, although a source of deep joy when freely chosen, is also demanding, exhausting and stressful, beyond any
[FN24]
other commitment.
Even women with spouses *34 present in the home perform the vast majority of arduous
[FN25]
homemaking duties
including child care.
FN24. See L. Genevie & E. Margolies, The Motherhood Report: How Women Feel About Being Mothers (1987)
(Reporting results of comprehensive survey of 1,100 mothers randomly selected from 350,000 households nation-wide; reporting on experiences with childbirths, infancy, toddlerhood, and children with illness, disability
or behavioral problems).
FN25. One recent study indicated that on average, employed wives spend twenty-six hours per week on housework while their husbands spend just thirty-six minutes. Cruver, Husbands and Housework: It's still an Uneven
Load, USA Today, Aug. 20, 1986, at 5D. See also Burros, Women: Out of the House But Not Out of the Kitchen, N.Y. Times, Feb. 24, 1988, at A1, col. 1 (86% of married women employed full time reported doing most
or all household cooking, compared to 93% of married women who stay home); The Division of Labor, 6 Employee Rel. Weekly (BNA) 166 (Feb. 8, 1988) (university study found that men spent 1.6 minutes per day on
housecleaning in 1986). Husbands do not significantly increase their participation in household tasks when their
wives work outside the home. See, e.g., Hofferth & Moore, Women's Employment and Marriage, in The Subtle
Revolution: Women At Work (R. Smith ed. 1979).
For those women who are unprepared or unequipped through lack of financial or emotional support, education or skills to
provide for support, immaturity, overextension by already existing family and work obligations, or due to health or *35
family crises, the experience of motherhood or added motherhood can be devastating.
When I became pregnant for the second time three years ago my son was eight months old and my husband and I had not
made a decision about a second child. Our first child was unplanned and I had had great difficulty adjusting to the
changes being a parent brought into my life. I was not behaving irresponsibly either time I became pregnant - I was 31,
and 32, respectively, I was married and I was practicing a reliable form of birth control that failed.
With this second pregnancy I was forced to confront my true feelings about parenting and I knew introducing another
child into a marriage that had been shaken by the unexpected arrival of a first baby could not withstand a second child. I
went through a week of serious soul-searching, involving long discussions with my husband and a therapist. It was a difficult painful week but when I made my decision I knew it was the right one for all of us.L-34
Moreover, unexpected childbearing can exacerbate a severe family crisis:
Two weeks after I discovered I was pregnant, my husband, who had suffered for years with an un-diagnosed illness, was
found to have a malignant tumor. After two very expensive visits to psychiatrists I was given permission to *36 have a
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 17
leagalized [sic] abortion at a local hospital. This was in 1960.

For the next 3 1/2 years...I was the only one who could interpret my husband's garbled speech. He died at the end of that
time.
To have an abortion was the wisest decision I have ever made. I could not have been as helpful to my husband or my two
children during the horrible time of this dreadful illness.... L-149. See also FL-242 (Counselor).
2. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether She is Financially, Educationally, and Emotionally Ready and Able to Assume Responsibility for a Child
For any woman contemplating having a child, her preparedness to support herself and her children is an important consideration. Many women reasonably fear that childbearing will halt education needed to achieve meaningful work and
[FN26]
[FN27]
adequate pay or interrupt work,
thus *37 creating a family financial crisis.
As one amicus explains:
FN26. See S. Kamerman, A. Kahn & P. Kingston, Maternity Policies and Working Women (1983).
FN27. Even without children, women's economic circumstances are different than those of men with comparable
skill and experience. See Bluebook, Women in the Work Force: Pay Equity: Hearing on S. 98-1050 before the
Joint Economic Committee, 98th Cong. 2nd Sess. 9-14 (1984) (submission for the record by Dr. H. Hartmann,
of report by National Academy of Sciences, Women, Work and Wages: Equal Pay for Jobs of Equal Value
(1981)). If she works, she will have to have higher educational attainment to obtain comparable pay and advancement. See U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1 Comparable Worth: Issues for the 80's, 200 (1984) citing
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Dep't of Commerce, Money Income of Families and Persons in the United States:
1979-1980; Current Population Reports P-60, No. 129, table 53 (The mean annual earning of a woman with a 4
year college degree is less than a male with only four years of high school).
I have personally had an abortion.... I was twenty-five years old at the time, divorced with two small children, ages five
and seven, and a senior in college.... I was putting myself through college with the help of my family, raising my children
as a single parent with very little emotional or financial support from my extremely immature ex-husband; I was making
grades good enough to consistently keep me on *38 the dean's honor roll and contemplating going to graduate school.
When I became pregnant I was terrified at the prospect of bringing another child into the world, knowing that I was
already strained to the limit, both financially and emotionally with the two children I had. I felt certain that bearing this
child would be a disaster for me, my educational plans, my children and possibly for the relationship with the father.
After an incredible amount of soul-searching discussions with the father and with doctors and counselors... I decided to
have an abortion. L-247
Many women find themselves divorced or single mothers with little income and without child support.
[FN28]
FN28. For example in March of 1985 in the U.S., there were more than 10.5 million families principally supported by women who were divorced, separated, widowed or never married. These families accounted for almost
17% of all U.S. families. Women's Bureau, U.S. Dep't. of Labor, Facts on Working Women No. 86-2 (1986). Of
the 8.8 million women living with children under 21 years of age whose fathers were not living in the household
in 1986, only 5.4 million, or 61%, had a child support agreement or court award for child support. Of the 4.4
million of them due to receive child support in 1985 only 48% received the full payment due. About 26% received only partial payment, and 26% received none of the support due. The average amount of child support received by all women due payments in 1985, was $2,220. Bureau of Census, U.S. Dep't of Commerce, Child Support and Alimony: 1985 Current Population Reports, Series P-23, No. 152 1-3, 11 (1987). This averaged $109
per month per child, not even enough to support a child at the federal poverty level. Williams, Deficiencies in
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 18
Child Support: Consequences for Children and Implications for Courts, 12 St. Ct. J. 4, 7 (1988); See generally
L. Weitzman, The Divorce Revolution (1985).
*39 I am a divorced professional woman, who is raising three children alone. I barely make it from paycheck to
paycheck. My children are very healthy, happy and loved....
I have yet to receive any assistance of any kind in raising my children.
Most times, I feel like I am at the end of the ropes, juggling a career (I am forced to work 2 jobs to support my children,
but one of them is a career), finances which are barely met, child-raising alone....
I chose abortion. I chose to limit myself to dealing with the too much responsibility I have now. All women should have
the right to chose how much responsibility they feel they are able to handle. Especially since she is the only one she
knows she can count on. L-2
***
[A]t the time of the divorce, when I was in my late 30's, the children were 1 and 3. We were thrown suddenly into
poverty as my ex-husband refused child *40 support. I had no job skills.... At my first job I earned $100 a month less
than the child care cost. The job required me to work 70 hours a week (ass't. manager of a McDonald's). (My husband
had disapproved of my working outside the home even though for most of the time we were married we had no children
and he was away 14 hours every day.) Our life was a nightmare of fear and struggle after the divorce. L-160
Some women choose an abortion at a time in their lives when their obligations exceed their means and they must depend
[FN29]
on welfare or on financial assistance from family or friends:
FN29. Although most people who go on public assistance do so for a relatively short time, too-early childbearing can consign a woman and her children to long-term poverty with significantly reduced chances of escaping.
U.S. Comm. on Civil Rights, A Growing Crisis: Disadvantaged Women and Their Children 5-14 (May 1983).
Monthly welfare payments vary from state to state but no state affords large support. As of January 1989, for a
family of three headed by a mother who has no other income, Alabama provided $118 per month, Mississippi
$120, California $633, and New York $539. N.Y. Times, Mar. 15, 1989 at A16, col.4 (Citing Family Support
Administration of U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services as source).
*41 In April of 1988, I obtained a legal abortion. I was twenty years old and faced with an unplanned pregnancy. I
already have two sons that came along in my young life. Like most single parents, I live on Public Aid. I also live in one
of the poorest regions of Illinois. I was very relieved that there was a safe and legal option to resolve my problem. I believe all women should have reproductive rights for their own bodies. L-212
***
My reason for getting the first illegal abortion had to do with the fact that in addition to living below the poverty level
($250 a month) with my three little children (eldest child: four and a half), I was no longer married. After a difficult divorce, my ex-husband had never respected the agreement that said he was required by law to pay alimony and child support. I was twenty five, we were living in Montreal, and I had no money to pay a lawyer, so I turned to my father for
help. He told me that neither he nor my mother would help me, because they were ashamed of me. L-125
3. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether the Conditions Within Her Life or Family are Healthy Enough to Risk Having a New Child
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 19
Some women facing unplanned pregnancies are already dealing with troubled families, *42 abusive spouses and extreme
[FN30]
emotional distress.
Some of these women decide that they should not bring a child (or another child) into such an
environment:
FN30. See R. Dobash & R. Dobash, Violence Against Wives (1979); R. Langley & R. Levy, Wife Beating: The
Silent Crisis 1977; L. Walker, The Battered Woman (1979). See also Hilberman, Overview: The Wife Beater's
Wife Reconsidered, in The Gender Gap in Psychotherapy 213 (P. Rieker and E. Carmen eds. 1984)
(documenting psychological impact of spousal abuse (stress response syndrome) upon victim and transgenerational patterns for perpetrators and victims).
In 1984 I became pregnant by accident. I was married to a man who had become a physically abusive alcoholic. We had
one child, age 3, at the time. I didn't see any way out of the relationship for myself.... My husband was not then working.... I was the sole support for my family at this time and had virtually no help from my husband in any area of responsibility. I was emotionally distraught much of the time because I felt I was not providing the material or emotional environment that my child deserved, and because of the constant pressures of physical and emotional abuse.... I knew I could
not add the work of caring for another child to my burden, it would have broken me ..... With no joy in my heart but with
*43 the knowledge that I was certainly making the right choice I had an abortion. L-173
4. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether She Is Healthy Enough to Sustain a Pregnancy and Able to Obtain Adequate
Prenatal Care
Many women have abortions because they suffer from health problems that can be exacerbated or made life-threatening
[FN31]
by pregnancy.
FN31. Although few in number, post-viability abortions occur in situations of acute, particularized need often
involving the onset or worsening of certain diseases. See generally S.L. Romney, et al. Gynecology & Obstetrics: The Health Care of Women, 697-796 (2nd ed. 1981) (discussing diseases complicating pregnancy).
Shortly after my husband and I were married, I suffered a nearly fatal bout with a rare and devastating disease, GuillainBarret syndrome. During a slow recovery, we conceived our first child. Almost immediately I was back in the hospital
with a recurrence of the most serious symptoms. As my condition rapidly deteriorated, the physicians attending me decided that an abortion would be necessary to save my life. L-245
[FN32]
*44 Obtaining adequate prenatal care is a major problem for many childbearing women.
Some women with limited or no access to prenatal care choose abortion because they decide that the risk to themselves and to the potential life
[FN33]
they carry is too great.
Additionally, many *45 women have received medical treatment necessary for their own
health that may have endangered a fetus.
FN32. Tragically some jurisdictions have attempted criminal action against pregnant women in relation to prenatal care. E.g., People of California v. Stewart, No. M508197, slip op. (Cal. Mun. Ct. San Diego Cty., filed Feb.
26, 1987). See Note, Pregnancy Police: The Health Policy and Legal Implications of Punishing Pregnant Women
for Harm to Their Fetuses, 16 NYU Rev. L. & Soc. Ch. 277 (1987-88).
FN33. In the U.S., access to health care services depends upon possessing health insurance or disposable income. Edelman, Maternal and Child Health Care: A Deepening Crisis, 1985 N.Y.S. J. of Med. 128, citing Kleinman et al., Use of Ambulatory Medical Care by the Poor: Another Look at Equity, 19 Med. Care 1011 (1981).
Access is more limited for women of color. Id. (citing National Center for Health Statistics 1980 data). In 1985,
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 20
prenatal care and uncomplicated delivery cost $3000-5000. Seventeen percent of American women aged 15-44
had no health care coverage and 36% whose annual family incomes were less than $10,000 had no coverage.
Gold & Kenney, Paying for Maternity Care, 17 Fam. Plan. Persp. 103-04 (1985).
In February 1985, I was treated for an exacerbation of Multiple Sclerosis with a very high dosage of Prednesone for three
(3) weeks. Unfortunately, during that period, I unknowingly became pregnant, even though my husband and I were practicing a very reliable method of contraception. Inasmuch as corticosteroids are known to cause severe birth defects, especially during the first 6-8 weeks of pregnancy, I knew I would have to abort the embryo. RL-26
Some women are struggling with alcohol or drug abuse that they are unable to overcome at the time of pregnancy.
[FN34]
FN34. A woman who is alcohol or drug addicted and pregnant is entitled to have her liberty and privacy fully respected. See ACOG Committee Opinion No. 55, Patient Choice: Maternal-Fetal Conflict (Oct. 1987). See also
note 32 supra.
In February, 1982, I had an abortion....
I was 38 years old, married with two children. We were and are still a *46 typical suburban family - as far as the outside
world can see. But life was not ordinary for us in 1982. I was (I am) chemically addicted to the drug alcohol. Beginning
in October, 1981 I made my first feeble attempts at recovery from alcoholism.... I wandered in and out of AA meetings....
In the midst of this rollercoaster ride of addiction - in February, 1982, I realized I could be pregnant.... I was frantic,
frightened, drained physically, emotionally, spiritually from my alcoholism. I could not manage my own life. The prospect of a baby was overwhelming!.... I chose to have an abortion....
I continued efforts toward recovery, and with the help of support of AA, I have not had a drink since April 13, 1982. L216. See also L-152 (drug abuse).
5. Only the Woman Can Weigh Her Ability to Provide for a Child Whose Health May Be Seriously Impaired
[FN35]
Many women have faced the revelation that the fetus may be born with serious disabilities.
Here again, the woman must decide, ideally with the best available and *47 least biased information and support, whether she can meet ex[FN36]
isting responsibilities and provide for the expected new responsibility.
In addition, some women decide that they
cannot give birth to a child who they know would live a lifetime of tragic pain.
FN35. See, e.g., L-3, 80, 138, 163, 185, 208, 214, 217, 231, 253, 271, 313, 320, 351, 381, 403, 410, 420, 426,
429, 471, 474, 556, 561, 564; RL-26, 51, 84, 86, 110, 123, 132.
FN36. See generally Asch, Reproductive Technology and Disability in Reproductive Laws for the 1990's 59 (N.
Taub & S. Cohen eds. 1988).
I would never, never, never, in a million years, deliberately and knowingly bring another Tay-Sachs child into the world.
The knowledge that I have the ability to spare another child the degradation that my cherished daughter is going through
means everything to me. It would be a crime to put another child through the humiliation and pain that this cruel disease
inflicts.
At the same time, the hope of someday having a healthy child, and the knowledge that it can happen if we will only have
the strength to keep trying, is one of the few things that is helping to keep me sane through the anguish of watching my
child slowly die. If abortion were to be made illegal, I would have to give up that hope, as I would never take the risk of
[FN37]
conceiving *48 and having to bear another child with Tay-Sachs. L-351
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 21
FN37. Tay-Sachs is a genetic disease occurring in infants and children. Children afflicted with Tay-Sachs disease, or one of the similar allied diseases, suffer slow degeneration, severe mental and physical impairment, resulting in their deaths in infancy or very early childhood.
6. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether Moral or Spiritual Values Compel Her to Terminate Her Pregnancy
Many women believe that their religious or moral values impel them not to bring an unwanted child into difficult circum[FN38]
stances in a hostile world.
Others choose a different mode of dedication and service rather than motherhood.
FN38. E.g., L-27, 31, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 48, 51, 55, 56, 58, 71, 76, 78, 82, 83, 89, 91, 96, 98, 99, 101, 108, 114,
119, 121, 123, 124, 125, 131, 141, 142, 148, 151, 154, 157, 159, 162, 166, 1170, 172, 183, 189, 198, 206, 228,
270, 288, 308, 313, 354, 400, 424, 444, 454, 455, 460, 489, 497, 522, 529, 537, 542; RL-14, 28, 51, 61, 64, 67,
86, 87, 88, 97, 102, 104, 120, 131.
[M]y pregnancy resulted from a failure of my birth control method, *49 which is supposedly more than 95% accurate.... I
believe that taking the time out to have a child would have changed my life for the worse, whether I would have had the
child put up for adoption or not.... I am thought to have a promising career ahead of me as a biomedical researcher. For
those who wonder about possible Einsteins that could have been born, what about the female Einsteins that could have
developed had their lives not been disrupted by an unplanned pregnancy. RL-53
7. Only the Woman Can Determine Whether She Should Bear a Child for Adoption When She is Unable to Assume Responsibility for Her or His Care
Adoption has been advanced by some as the cureall for abortion.
overwhelming:
[FN39]
The pain of giving a child up for adoption can be
FN39. See L.A. Times, Oct. 20, 1988 at __, col. 1 (quoting Pres. Bush as opposing abortion and favoring adoption).
In 1977 I had a safe, legal abortion, felt only a great relief at that time, and have never regretted that decision.
In fact, I was particularly aware of how important that choice was. Because fifteen years earlier, in 1962, when I was a
college student, I could not get a safe, legal abortion. I endured *50 therefore a cruel, forced pregnancy and a forced surrender of my first child, a daughter, to adoption. I have felt only regret and will for the rest of my life... The pain of the
loss of my only daughter is indescribable....
She disappeared into the unknown and I was never to know whether she was alive or dead. L-5
***
At 17 years old I became pregnant. I made my choice alone out of confusion and shame. I chose to give my baby up for
adoption.... I can only tell you that I could never go through it again and live....
[W]hen I faced the same situation earlier this year, I did not chose adoption. There was alot of soul-searching and
memories from the adoption this time. I considered having the baby, but the reality of my financial situation made it impossible.... I don't think the court really understands some of these cruel truths. L-286
***
Adoption was never an alternative for me. Personally, I feel absolutely emotionally incapable of carrying to term and
then giving up the child. L-259
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 22
***
This time, neither my husband nor I could face another baby.... I do not regret my choice. I am sorry I could not bear that
child.... But the cost of having it would have been too high for me, for my husband, and perhaps for our older son. And
nice middle-class ladies definitely do not put babies up for adoption. RL-27
*51 ***
As an adopted child I know what choice is about. I still feel that abortion should be legal. FL-227
As the comments from amici curiae show, the responsibility of bearing a child or having an abortion is a woman's.
B. The Reality for a Pregnant Woman is That Potential Life is a Part of Her Body
The reality for a pregnant woman is that potential life is a part of her from the moment of conception until birth. This is
[FN40]
the salient fact. Arguments as to whether life begins at conception, viability
or *52 birth, and labels used to de[FN41]
scribe potential life--a fetus, an unborn child or a baby -- are, by contrast, abstract conceptualizations.
A
[FN42]
woman is guided by the sure knowledge that the developing life is part of her body,
her profound physical burden
until the day of birth. After birth the child remains a tremendous responsibility thereafter for *53 the woman -- a responsibility greater than any other known to human beings.
FN40. Contrary to arguments by some, the stage at which the fetus is potentially able to live outside the mothers
womb with artifical aid has not changed in any significant way since Roe v. Wade. See Brief of Appellees; Brief
of Amici Curiae Neurobiologists and Neonatologists in Support of Appellees.
It is estimated that less than 0.01 (one one hundredth of one percent) of all abortions are performed after viability. Henshaw et al., A Portrait of American Women who Obtain Abortions, 17 Fam. Plan. Persp. 90, 91 (1985).
One study suggests that even the 0.01 percent figure may be too high. Spitz et al., Third--Trimester Induced
Abortion in Georgia, 1979 and 1980, 73 Amer. J. of Public Health 594 (1983) (estimating 0.004 percent after
examining the data).
See RL-78 (pregnant recently widowed woman in the military stationed in third world country received erroneous negative pregnancy test result in 15th week and had to return to U.S. for abortion in 22nd week).
FN41. See also FL-242 (Counselor: division of opinion on when life begins); FL-245 (Doctor: same).
FN42. See Regan, Rewriting Roe v. Wade, 77 Mich. L. Rev. 1569, 1579-80 (1979), for an excellent summary of
the physical burdens of pregnancy.
When I was nineteen I became pregnant with my first child. I never thought of doing anything other than having the
baby....
1 1/2 years ago I became pregnant again. Initially we were glad as we recognized the sacredness of life. But in time and
through discussion I realized I was not ready to be the mother of two. I also felt my 13 month old son deserved my full
attention and demanded it. At this point we fully understood the realities and stresses of parenting. The financial responsibilities create very high levels of stress and even our love for each other and our son didn't make it any better. After a
heart wrenching decision we chose abortion. Not out of convenience or hate but out of love for the unborn child we knew
we were unprepared to take proper care of. L-187
See also, e.g., L-181.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 23
Any legislative determination that potential life begins before it can be sustained outside the womb will be abused.
[FN43]
Only the pregnant woman can *54 judge her ability to sustain the responsibility of childbearing. Even if in rare
instances a woman feels she erred in her judgment, no one else could have judged better because no one else occupied
her unique position of knowledge and responsibility.
FN43. Section 1.205.1, Mo. Stat. Ann. (Vernon Supp. 1989), has already been used to a woman's detriment in
the State of Missouri as the basis for overriding a pregnant woman's elected treatment options and ordering an
forced cesarean. See Deaconess Hospital v. Ilester McRoberts and Kevin McRoberts, No. 874-00172 Div. No.2
(Mo. Cir. Ct., St. Louis Cty., May 21, 1987). See Kolder et al., Court-Ordered Obstetrical Interventions, 316
New Eng. J. Med. 1192, 1194 (1987) (criticizing court intervention).
C. For a Woman, To Choose an Abortion is Not Separate or Distinct from Any Other Conduct Protected By the Right of
Privacy
Preventing conception is not completely within a woman's control for a variety of physical, economic and social reasons.
Moreover, for a woman, contraception as a procedure is not sharply distinguishable *55 from abortion as a procedure.
[FN44]
For this reason, a woman's right of privacy would be abrogated if women lost the right to choose an abortion.
FN44. For example, not all contraceptives prevent ovulation or fertilization. Some prevent or interfere with implantation. See 43 Fed. Reg. 4231 (1981) (discussion of mini-pill); Burnhill, Intrauterine Contraception in Fertility Control 271, 280 (Carson et al. eds. 1985) (IUD function); Johnson, Contraception: The Morning After
Pill, 16 Fam. Plan. Persp. 2661 (1984) (DES); Morris & von Wagner, Interception: The Use of Postovulatory
Estrogens to Prevent Implantation, 115 Am. J. Obst. & Gyn. 101 (1973) (same).
A woman in an intimate relationship with a man in this culture normally will be expected by that man (and often by oth[FN45]
ers as well) to engage in sexual intercourse with him
even though it is she, not he, who will bear the primary
[FN46]
risks, costs and *56 burdens.
Some women never intended to become pregnant, but as a result of misinformation
[FN47]
or lack of maturity, education, resources or access to contaceptives, either could not, or did not, take precautions.
Others had used *57 contraceptives but because of difficulties with contraceptive methods, were changing or abandoning
[FN48]
methods when they became pregnant.
FN45. See C. MacKinnon, Privacy v. Equality in Feminism Unmodified 93, 96-97 (1987).
FN46. Cf. Michael M. v. Superior Court, 450 U.S. 464 (1981) (statutory rape law applied only to males upheld,
in part, upon the reasoning that female sexual conduct deterred by prospect of pregnancy).
FN47. Henshaw & Silverman, The Characteristics and Prior Contraceptive Use of U.S. Abortion Patients, 20
Fam. Plan. Persp. 158, 166 (1985) (in sample of reported abortion cases, non-use of contraceptive greatest for
those who were young, never-married, poor, minority or less educated). Many of the amici curiae were minors
when they experienced the unwanted pregnancy they describe. L-1, 27, 36, 53, 69, 85, 88, 98, 107, 111, 121,
128, 131, 132, 154, 155, 159, 162, 169, 178, 190, 202, 211, 222, 233, 250, 254, 262, 273, 274, 286, 287, 292,
302, 303, 305, 316, 317, 331, 339, 340, 348, 356, 357, 363, 365, 378, 379, 389, 395, 413, 416, 423, 428, 437,
448, 454, 456, 461, 469, 487, 497, 498, 499, 500, 504, 506, 510, 516, 520, 527, 538, 542, 550; RL-13, 19, 48,
54, 56, 60, 63, 74, 79, 94, 125, 128, 133.
FN48. Henshaw & Silverman, supra note 47, at 165 (91% of women seeking abortions in 1987 had used contraception at some time; 18% prior users were pregnant within one month of stopping; 47% within three months).
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 24
[FN49]
Many women never intended to be pregnant, took appropriate steps to prevent pregnancy,
and those steps failed
[FN50]
*58 because all forms of artificial birth control are defective. Many of the amici curiae, had on the occasion of
[FN51]
their unwanted pregnancy, used contraceptives that failed.
FN49. In an effort to avoid unwanted pregnancy, some women opt for sterilization. See L-270 in Appendix B.
This strategy is not available to all women because many desire to delay childbearing, not forestall it altogether,
Henshaw & Silverman, supra note 47, at pp. 164-65.
In 1982, 27% of all women over age 15 were sterile, 25.7% of whom were surgically sterile, 17% for contraceptive purposes. U.S. Dep't. Commerce, Statistical Abstracts of the United States 1987 (Table No. 99 citing 1982
U.S. National Center for Health Statistics). Almost 37% of the remaining population used non-surgical contraception, 9.2% were seeking pregnancy or were post partum pregnant, and 26.9% were not using contraception
(and of those approximately 72% were sexually inactive). Id.
FN50. Henshaw & Silverman, supra n. 47, at 166-67 (over half of the women who had abortions in 1987 were
using contraceptive during month of in which they became pregnant).
FN51. Including, e.g., an I.U.D., e.g., L-1, 9, 19, 77, 78, 90, 113, 136, 138, 174, 198, 241, 246, 249, 252, 257,
270, 290, 359, 369; a contraceptive pill, e.g., L-164, 174, 204, 376; a diaphragm, e.g., L-48, 53, 87, 150, 156,
226, 229, 254, 270, 306; a sponge, e.g., L-67; a condom and foam, e.g., L-115, 144, 222; or the cervical cap, e.g.
, L-142. See L-7, 23, 25, 31, 40 (vasctomy), 43, 49 (contraceptive failed 3 times), 52, 55 (seven times), 59, 68,
69, 72, 74, 86, 101, 102 (age 50), 105, 108, 132, 133 (three times), 137, 170, 172 (sterilization), 177, 179, 182,
183, 192, 210, 218, 227, 239, 294, 315, 356, 364, 375, 401, 404, 426, 438, 451, 453, 454, 455, 456, 466, 467,
470, 479, 480, 482, 483, 486, 491, 496, 507, 508, 512, 513, 514, 522, 528, 529, 534, 535, 537, 540, 541, 544,
545, 549, 552, 557, 558, 560, 562, 564, 567; RL-1, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 36, 39, 41, 45, 46,
48, 50, 51, 53, 57, 64, 68, 69, 70, 71, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 92, 95, 97, 99, 101, 102, 103, 107, 112, 113,
118, 120, 123, 126, 129, 131, 133.
*59 Finally some women become pregnant because of forced sex. Given the likelihood of conception in the absence of
contraception, these tragic circumstance do result in unwanted pregnancies. Amici curiae describe unwanted pregnancies
[FN52]
resulting from rape by a stranger, friend (date rape) or husband (marital rape).
See L-28, 44, 75 (former nun
[FN53]
*60 raped by her priest-confessor), 113, 131
243, 244, 251, 301, 302, 352, 383, 416, 487, 524, 526, 535. RL-58,
60, 92, 94, 133. FL-5, 30, 53, 67, 122, 242, 264.
FN52. The FBI has estimated that in the United States in 1987, one forcible rape occurred every 6 minutes
(91,000 occurrences reported). FBI, Uniform Crime Reports for the United States 6, 13-15 (1987). Rape is a
crime frequently unreported and difficult to report because it is stigmatizing. Additionally, marital rape is unreported because it is not illegal in most states. See, e.g., D. Finklehor & K. Yllo, Licence to Rape; Sexual Abuse
of Wives (1985) (Estimating 10-14% of all married women experience marital rape; majority of states have not
abolished marital rape exemption). See generally S. Estrich, Real Rape (1987).
FN53. One amicus describes a brutal rape and the demeaning circumstances that she suffered to end the resulting pregnancy. See L-131 in Appendix B.
In 1977, I became active in the antiabortion movement....
In 1980, I found myself pregnant as a result of a forced sexual encounter...I realized that my life was also a human life,
and that I knew I simply could not bear a child from such an ugly experience!
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 25
I went to a clinic in my city (one which I had even picketed at one time), and I had the abortion there....
Since my abortion (quite some time later), I became a born-again Christian.... I find my faith in Christ strengthens my
pro-choice commitment. Jesus Christ tells me as a Christian to judge not, that ye be not judged (Mt. 7:1).... L-28
Some friends of amici describe the abortion experiences of young women who were the *61 victims of incest. See FL-5,
[FN54]
53, 61, 122.
FN54. By 1985, there were 113,000 reports of child sexual abuse annually, the vast majority of them involving
parents and other family members. Kleiman, The Last Taboo: Case on L.I. Pierces the Silence on Incest, N.Y.
Times, Sept. 28, 1987, at Al, col. 1. Unreported cases far outnumber those that are reported. See generally D.
Whitcomb, E. Shapiro and L. Stellwagen, When the Victim Is a Child: Issues for Judges and Prosecutors 4-5, 84
(1985); D. Russell, Sexual Exploitation: Rape, Child Sexual Abuse and Workplace Harassment 180-94 (1984)
(16% of randomly selected women had been victims of incestuous abuse, 64% of whom experienced forced vaginal penetration.)
It is grossly intrusive, demeaning, unreasonable, unfair and unduly burdensome to condition the right of any woman
pregnant due to any form of forced sex to have her reasons for wanting an abortion scrutinized or to be required to
report the forced sex as a precondition to ending her unwanted pregnancy.
*62 For all women, the option of abortion, without government interference,
guarantees of freedom in our Constitution are meaningless.
[FN55]
is vital; without that option, other
FN55. But see Brief of the United States, at 22-23 n.16, suggesting that it is reasonable to make a women submit
to the... question... whether a woman has been afforded a meaningful opportunity to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, taking all of the options available to her, including abstinence and contraception. Id. at p.22. Obviously,
this approach invites both grossly punitive statutory provisions that will undoubtedly spring from stereotypes,
not the reality of women's reproductive lives, and intrusive systems of mini trials upon the reason that each
woman is experiencing unwanted pregnancy.
CONCLUSION
Women's privacy and liberty interests constitutionally protected by Roe v. Wade would be substantially infringed upon
by the provisions of the Missouri statute at issue. Reproductive Health Service v. Webster, 851 F.2d 1071. As outlined at
*63 length in the Brief for Appellees, section 1.205.1 (1) (life begins at conception) provides the basis for coercive treatment of pregnant women. See note 43 supra. Sections 188.029 (fetal viability tests for fetuses of twenty weeks or more
gestational age) 188.205 and 188.215 (prohibitions on use of public funds and facilities) and 188.210 (prohibitions on
work of public employees) will lead to delay, lack of information, misinformation and lack of health services, all of
which increase health risks for women. These provisions increase the cost and diminsh the availability of services and
thus present substantial impediments to those most in need of services.
The option of abortion, as the letters and statements of amici curiae make clear, is fundamental to women's lives, liberty
and their pursuit of happiness. Amici *64 curiae and their friends urge this Court to reaffirm its original holdings in Roe
[FN56]
v. Wade and subsequent decisions
upholding women's reproductive choice, and to affirm the decision of the court
of appeals below.
FN56. Thornburgh v. ACOG, 476 U.S. 747 (1986); City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 462
U.S. 416 (1983).
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 26
*65 Respectfully submitted,

March 30, 1989
Sarah E. Burns
Counsel of Record
Helen Neuborne
Alison Wetherfield
NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund
99 Hudson Street
12th Floor
New York, NY 10013
212-925-6635
and
1333 H Street, NW
11th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-682-0940
Dawn Johnsen
National Abortion Rights Action League
1101 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-371-0779
* Counsel for amici curiae acknowledge attorney Lynn Paltrow for her leadership in ensuring that the voices of women
concerning abortion reach this Court, see Brief of Amici Curiae National Abortion Rights Action League et al. in Thornburgh v. ACOG, U.S. Sup. Ct. Nos. 84-495 and 84-1379, and for her insights shared in the preparation of this brief.
** Amici curiae also thank New York Attorney Carole Cleaver for her dedicated assistance in preparing this brief.
*A1 APPENDIX A
Here follow the names of the 2887 amici curiae, women who have had abortions (including 849 Jane Roes) and their 627
friends. This is a random list; the position of the names bears no relation to the sequential order of the lodged letters.
NAMES OF AMICI CURIAE
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 27
Ann Davis Melbye, Elizabeth M. Nikoloric, Christine Molnar, Sharon A. Wimpy, Eugenie Seidenberg Delaney, Alice Z.
Lawrence, Susan Laurence, Mary L. Donnelly, Mary Bengtson-Almquist, Marilyn Magnuson, Diane E. Gow, Kathie Rogers, Kathy Lenington, Elaine Stansfield, Betsy Morrison, Melanie A. Cloghessy, Caren Cronk Thomas, Julie Lehnis,
Sara-Jane M. Cohen, Dana K. Ellis, Andrea Boroff Eagan, E. Jean Oton, JoAnn Castillo, Rebecca Stone, Paula McKenzie, Jada Wright, Amy J. Amoon, Virginia Tornes, Terrye Witte, Sherri L. Anderson, Judith M. Allen, Lisa M. Kushner,
Phyllis C. Edwards, Randy Rutkin, Kay J. Stenberg, Beth F. Cohen, Vickie Algarin-Randle, Kathy K. Astor, Nancy
Goldhill, Deborah L. Bacon, Michele Wilson, Belinda Etezad, Claudia Cleaver, Dr. Sarah N. Papier, Andrea M. Smith,
Nancy Newton, Beatrice A. Beeson, Faye K. Daly, Mollie Moore-Sullivan, Vicki Sotak, Marg Chandler, P. M. Roper,
Leslie A. Allen, Lucille Purdy, Susan Dudley, Pauline A. Roberts, Lori V. Battistoni, Gail C. Feldman, Ph.D., Pamela
Chilton, Natalie G. Delvaille, Roberta Piell, Adrianne C. Bodensteiner, Marla R. Netzer, Elizabeth White, Wilma T.
Young, Julie Ann Allender, Beth J. Wickler, Ann F. Crowe, *A2 Renee N. Chelian, Mary Gillmor-Kahn, Susan L.
Goldring, Ursula Le Guin, Susan A. Taylor, Susan Woodin, Linda S. Winslow, Pat Moshimer, Janet G. Clark, Nicole
Ballardini, Mary D. Rendall, Mabel L. Eisner, Dorothy Haymes, Kathryn Lowery, Sharon Reed-Miller, Bernice W.
Smith, Barbara Griffith, Margaret L. Hofmann, Edith Butler, Nansea A. Levy, Susan D. Hill, Angie King, Jessie
Hillinger, Mignon F. Souto, Diane B. McCarthy, Ilse Asplund, Cari Vallo, Michal Reed, Ann E. Holmes, Margo Adrienne Master, Felicia C. Wicker, Gwen Williams, Robin L. Magee, Kate Lehn, Laurie Naranjo, Jane E. DeNeefe, Lee
Gardner Dewey, Doris Espy, Ileen Self, Virginia R. Baim, Laura Israel, Jody Sova, L. Jean Rowe, Olive Karen Stamm,
Esq., Sara K. Krusenstjerna, Eleanor Arkowitz, Anne D. Ehrlich, M.D., Elizabeth B. Conant, Nicolette Noyes, Wynne E.
Smith, Lyra Halprin, Rosalind Stark, Christel S. Carlson, Nicolette R. Elko, Eleanor Breese, Ellen Cohen, Ethel E. Bishop, Arlene Halfon, Linda Henry, Janet M. Osborn, Teresa M. Goetz, Margaret Nell Webb, Marilyn Schaeffer, Annie Osburn, Elizabeth M. Proctor, Frances T. Shalent, Ann Davis Melbye, Barbara T. Chang, Barbara Kraft, Sharon Weisman,
Mrs. Blanche Twyman, Heather L. Grimshaw, Betty Ackermann, Dorothy C. Gunter, Beverly Richert, Linda Shapiro,
Suzanne Huston, Marjorie B. Zucker, Ph.D., Paula B. Weingarten, RN, Barbara Katz, Judith A. Schroeder, Leslie Kim
Smith, Jane Husman, Meredith Cahn, Sharon Mullane;
Kathleen R. Urch, Kerie Hitt, Leslie M. Clark, Sara Horowitz, Tineke Ritmeester, Ph.D., Lisa Hoffman, Mary E. Jennings, Luba Fineson, Lore Feldman, Bertha K. Bowerman, Jean Lynam, *A3 Anita Beamon, Mona M. Clark, Felicia
Value, Ann M. Mallouk, Rhonda Rossman, Judy Cosdon, Maxine S. Seller, Andrea L. Ross, Carolyn Buhl, Sara B. Deringer, Gail Judd, Janet Gotkin, Carla S. Gibbs, Carol Ann Peterson, Mary Alice Wanamaker, Frances V. Martin, Judith
Roth, Mary Jean Haddin, Jean S. Gross, Lorri Bauder, Sheerah R. Roache, Susan R. Necheles, Katie Cushman, Fanny
Jay, Syd E. Rosen, Annette Rotter, Maurine M. Ruddy, Sandra Davis, Joanne Goldwater, Suzanne Freeman, Cheryl L.
Payne, Vita Henderson, Lillian G. Gordon, Barbara LeBey, Joan Meyers, Malani Sternstein, Mary Whalen, Connie
Mitchell, Darla Dawn Turpen, Anne F. Taylor, Penny Fujiko Willgerodt, Sue Roselle, Sadja Greenwood, M.D., Donna
Nasoff, Lisa Marie Strzelecki, Cynthia C. Ramseyer, Ruth D. Jacobson, Rebecca J. Bernhard, Florence E. Moore, Chrisanne Gordon, Sheila Wood, Linda Brown, Peggy Pridemore, Joanne Katz, Jeri K. Ernst, Stephanie Tournas, Shannon
Wegele, Laura L. Hitchcock, Karen Deaver, Ethorne LaBarr, Jasmine Ellen Wolf, Nancy C. Bowen, Susan A. Griffel,
Carol L. Campbell, Maria Patrick Oakley, Julie L. Moore, Pamela Dennis Thomas, Coleen Murphy, Tammy Jo Abbott,
Millicent Kaufman, Marilyn Davis, Jan L. Palchikoff, Emily Hancock, Pauline Gardiner, Amy Goldsmith, Melissa Madden, Iris Hale, Alice Alexander, Justine Schiffer, Sharon Richer, Lisa Johnson Waugh, Christine Soto, Willa Williams,
Onna Spohn, Deborah R. Slepian, Terry A. Jones, Pamela Hoey, Karen Raylene Mellos, Elizabeth Arthur, Elizabeth
Seton Stone, Robyn Kramer, Cara Lou Wifler, Susan Morton, Wanda Martin, Mareen Hoerle, Linda Weiss, Ellin London, Ann Riley Owens, Lisa Fontes, Virginia L. Senders, Lori J. *A4 Ingram, Lin Lawrance Chase, Mary O. Wright,
R.N., Lucy C. Metting, Silvana & Marie Pretel, Jane L. Timmermans, Vera Lucile Mundy, Leslie Byers, Ruth Anderson,
Stacey Rose-Blass, Fay Anderson, Ed.D., Renee Rose Shield, Andrea Thrasher, Bonita Siler, Judith Grossman, Hilda
Steckel, Laurie C. Urias, Beverly Johnsen, Sarah T. Mack, Phyllis C. Hall, Nancy H. Coffin, Mary L. Litman, Linda
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Kolker, Lisa DuPont, K. Johnston, Tiffin Shewmake, Linda L. McCulloch, Linda L. McCulloch, Carole Riggin, Ms. Angela H. Mohr, Thelma B. Moody, Marsha Dale, Lori L. Wichhart, Helen J. Keever, Roberta Branagan, Catalina Hall,
Geraldine Misner, Janice Vondrasek, Anna Gullette, Celia S. Miklos, Lenore Walton, Gayle Schucker, Susan B. Jones,
Janice Harris, Jane Jinks, Patricia Clay Grooms, Nancy K. Weled, Gail Ashburn, Jennie Stevens Marsh, Gina Burrell,
Donna M. Clark, Betty B. Moser, Margaret N. Poxon, Julie Burke, Barbara M. Young, Jenefer Ellingston, Barbara A.
White, Marky Deese, Claudia Cleaver, Kathleen Feinblum, Louise Eweus, Susan Brown, Pauline Lynch, Catherine F.
Goldman, Lisa M. Hummel, Mary E. Hudson, Holly Fernandez, Myra Brown Gorelick, Emilie N. Junge, Judith Seigel,
Christine Tyner, Ruth Ellen Lindenberg, Susanna S. Cuyler, Lil Friedlander, Lori A. Black, Judith Bell, Jacqueline Perry,
Victoria Dedek, Susan Satterfield Burtoff, Sara C. Hill, Bobbe Banks Salkowitz, Linda Harroun, M.S.W., Claudia F.
Coffee, Jane Ising, Deborah Lewis, Barbara Finesmith, Frances G. Block, Pamela Johnson, Phoebe Frosch, Mary Reynolds-Parra, Robin Cash, Alyson Smith-Bradford, Jessica Schiffman, Kimberly L. Mitchell, Susan J. Phillips, Susan
Grimes, Patricia L. Cunningham, *A5 Patricia Miller, Susan E. Curan, Suzanne Wallis, Amy Blum, Edna Mayer, Manya
B. Warn, Lynnda Cramer, Jane S. Speyer, Marla Felcher, Pearl F. Shipman, Florence Waber, Susanne Carlson, Dianne E.
Nelson, Deborah Higdon, Constance Schlesinger, Elizabeth A. Good, Angela Cali, Marilyn Dreampeace, Nancy J. Rosson, Nansie Van Der Hout, Janice Hayri, Elissa Raiten, Carolyn Judd, Sara Meric, Susan Boyes, Joan Hertzberg, Leslie
Hartley Gise, MD, Mrs. Joel M. Segal, Barbara Winslow, Natalie A. Uzoff, Jennifer Welker, Theresa Ferguson;
Cindy Heath-Simon, Janet VanDeusen, Joanna Ward, Sonia I. Schneider, Angela Anthony, Virginia T. Sheen, Jill Medvedow, Lynne Schroeder, Rose E. Pinkas, Mary Osborn Black, Sylvia Roussi Kennedy MD, Ilene J. Dale, Ruth M.
Glick, Ph.D., Rena Smilowitz, Gabrielle O'Brien, Tamar E. Abrams, Yvonne Singer, Elaine Burton, Marge Mulhall, Ann
A. Cruse, Judith A. Gray, Roberta B. Hutner, Jill C. Roese, Frederika Ann Robinson, Monica L. Parish, Joan Garrity,
Christine E. Johnson, Annette L. Ravinsky, Carol Moore, Jane Lindsay Miller, Virginia Childs, Susan A. Smith, Adrienne Kavelle, Jean McFarland, Patricia Lazar, Arlene Ferguson, Marlene S. Eshelman, Ms. Jerri Ann Moore, Marian
Galbraith, Jamie Fischman, Melissa J. Mendell, Elizabeth C. Berigan, Barbara Engel, Laura Moody, Nancy Bretz, Virginia C. Eskridge, Lisa Whaley, Ruth A. Campbell, Jeanne Lewison, Arlene P. Cayer, Geraldine Tarbutton, Alice Marie
Holland, Elizabeth G. Whaley, Judith Shure, Margaret L. Sullivan, Anne Moriarty, P. Kaiman Rayner, Beverly Barrett,
Elisa Goldberg, Nancy J. Watson, Tina M. Balsamo, Shannon Wood, Susan L. Rose, Laura B. Woltz, Georgia Christgau,
Jackie Pardon, *A6 Carolyne Epstein, Marcia Todhunter DeRosa, Suzanne Connolly, Isabelle Taylor, Louise Hodin,
Valerie Hedquist, Leah C. Mayhew, Joyce Madsen, Cathleen Ruth Deppe, Leslie Hodges, Christine Kraemer, C. Vernell
Hubbs, Elizabeth P. Zissa, Lucia Cies, Mindy Sue Cohen, Christine Anderson, Leslie D. Clark, Betsy G. de Leiris,
Pamela Dunlap-Patterson, Susann G. Mark, Frances C. Whittelsey, (Mrs.) Mildred Kadell, Jean Rosenthal, Patrice G.
Kleinberg, Nadine Grady, Carol Ferguson-Sneed, Peggy A. Norman, Linda L. Wells, Gail Harrison, Lisa Quackenbush,
Connie Cafagno, Jerry Robb, Ragnhild Fredriksen, Martha E. Munzer, Becky Ellis, Denise A. Thal, Nancy E. Grossman,
R. M. Hardister, Margaret C. E. Tingley, Etta J. Posnick, Patricia Milner, Herta Drucker, Gay Katilius, Claudia B. Logan,
Regina June Marcus, Mary Elizabeth Cashel, Gail Reiner Davis, Sue E. Bertram, Deborah Dvorak Hunter, Jill A. Smith,
Beulah P. Minkoff, Barbara Brandt, Sylvia Stengle, Susan Kelly Scholl, Arlynn R. Grimm, Susan H. Pincus, Traci N.
Snow, Lyle L. Warner, Jennifer Putman, Linda J. Myers, Magda Krance, Margo B. Loring, Harriette Ramos, Susan
Green, Mary M. A. Evans, Anne Bracewell, Deborah S. Ruhe, Mrs. Frances Meehan, Kay Abraham, Zola Dincin
Schneider, Rene L. Bushan, Roslyn A. Schwartz, Harriette S. Glasner, Elizabeth C. Parker, Tam Fletcher, Iris M. Kaplan,
Mary-Scott Welch, Meloney J. Sallie, Julia Ericksen, Pamela R. Kirsch, Judith J. Levine, Gloria Friedman, PH.D., Ms.
Helen B. Stern, Louise Moed, Edith Bliss Stubbs, Gail Cowie, Deborah Hedwall, Lilly Rivlin, Betty Schacht, Carole Seligman, JoAnn Wheeler-Burbank, Gloria R. Allred, Roz Kupferman, Ann C. Robinson, Esq., Janet L. *A7 Mattern, Virginia M. Hudson, Judie J. Hartley, RNC, Claire Kahane, Anne Jennison, Jean S. Fraser, Meredith Ann Madri, Gael K.
Gallant, Jacqueline Beard, Vicki Roberts Hall, Eava Lufkin, Deirdre Finney Boylan, Jill McMillen, Elaine Melson Madsen, Jackie Clark, Adrienne M. Smeltzer, Crystal A. Harmes, Leona Farless, Julie Borcherding, Tonya J. Fowler, Teresa
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Carroll, Jennifer Oddleifson, Amy Smith, Elizabeth C. Beard, Ann Townsend, Gina Secrest, Dorothy Cobbs Shaw, Janet
L. Pregel, Cathy Dean, Monica Sandoval, Gloria E. Albetta, Joyce Bogan, Mary F. Whalen, Caitlin O'Heaney, Kathy
Huddleston, Helen L. Grieco, Jane Kappus, Julie Raffety, Karen Marshall, Judy L. Meuth, JoAnn Conant, Samantha
Frost, Gail E. Ellis, Kay M. Rippelmeyer, Peggy Powell Dobbins, Marjorie Howard, Marjorie Howard, Ann Petry, Margaret M. Conway, Bertie J. Weddell, Susan J. Schramm, Marge Piercy, Lisa A. Flood, Leslie Gallagher, Julie Wuthnow,
Carla Watkins, Diane Workman Derzis, Nancy Lord, MD, Sarah Gilmore, Carol Edge, Suzanne R. Garnier, Leonore
Tiefer, Hannah T. Gibbs, Cheri Casolari, Cindy Cobb, Karin Stallard, Janet Stevens, Carol J. Friedman, Glennito Myers,
Annette S. Lessmann, Kristi Young, Carolyn Nemeth, Sandra L. Frye, Nancy Ippolito, Deborah Wachtel, Laura Strauss,
Karlene John, Abby Snay, Sally Brennan, Susan Slovak, Sara E. Rose, Darla Green, Alice Carroll, Mary Ellen Griffith,
Martha Betcher, Nancy Baker, Ann Malester, Frances Ziegler, Holliday B. Wagner, Kathryn Sweeney;
Susan W. Griffin, Erika Woodyard, Wendy Maury, Kelly Nelson, Joanna Levine, Diane Ehrensaft, Ruth Krauss, M.D.,
Sally O. Hawn, Veronica Elliott, Shirley Sadjadi, Norma Stringer, Judith Ann Burk, Nancy *A8 Roth, Janet Colm, Carrie
Burgess, Madeline Helbraun, Bonnie L. Cumings, Nancy N. Artus, Anne Merrill, Jean D. Grambs, Marcie Sillman, Rosalyn Murray, Lisa Moore, Vicki VanLandingham, Lorraine Fuller, Rose Marie Prins, Becky Mayo, Katya Kirsch,
Penelope Tingle, Barry Osborne, Patricia D. Lockhart, Sherry Foster, Julie Jay, Connie Torres, Laurie Cunningham,
Linda J. Nordquist, Kathryn M. McKeown, F.S. Hazel, Carolyn Roundey, Vicky Cullen, Juliet Kadlecek, Christine Curran, Jane A. Ripley, Linda J. Merrifield, Pamela Torazzo Azar, Janette Case, Sarah N. Papier, Ph.D., Beverly McClendon, Janice Habbley, Winifred Sewell, D.Sc., Cynthia McCloskey, Rosemary Curran, Margaret Zanger, Elizabeth
Johnson, Lisa C. C. Edman, Lori Wilcox Ott, Rhonda Robinson, Elese Humphries, Brenda S. Bishop, Marcia P. Hallock,
Susan L. Vogt, Marie E. Berglund, Linda S. Fernandez, Laura Richard, Sharon Pope, Sue Selick, Samantha E. Ostertag,
Jill A. Atkins, Judith Rosenstern, Sandra Williams, Michelle Roth Ansdotter, Sioban Harlow, Ph.D., Kim Klausner,
Roberta Cass Dileo, Alissa Guyer, Donna Snyder, Diane Peterson, Sylvia Evans, Michelle R. Mercier, Pegge Hopper,
Bambi Lynn Yost, Lois Rosett, Louise Goodman, Marsha A. Shopsis, Anna M. Theobald, Kim Baldwin, Sylvia Tesh,
Ann Marlowe, Michelle M. Lamoreaux, Lou Robinson, Ana Coghlan, Dianne Tripp, Sherry Atkinson, Tammy Ledbetter,
C. A. Cooke, Kristi Schell, Ri Gleason, Alice R. Bentley, Donna Hughes-Hasle, Margaret Baumgartner, Evan Young, Pat
Purcell, Lillie M. Shirley, Debbie Tessandore, Annetta K. Gregory, Kathy Shea, Laura Russell, Susan B. Kullman, Sandi
Goldstein, Elaine S. Hofberg, Regina *A9 Kessler, Claudia Summer, Veronica Slajer, Joyce Goodman, Pat Hartwell, Alison M. Conner, Cindy Ehrman, Margaret Alois Gifford, Eileen Donnelly, Ginger A. Peugh, Leslie Cain, Ann Leonard,
Pa Pao Ihouampide, Melissa Bernstrom, Kathleen M. Haynes, Vicki A. Zeitner, Oda Friedheim, Maria Rodriguez, Sheri
Rene Hill, Leslie R. Wolfe, Nikki Mason, Nancy Stearns, Joanne Mattson DeVoe, Rubin Mahan, Joyce C. McIntyre,
Maribeth Oakes, Lee Ullmann Fenner, Michelle Patzke, Beverly Bajema, Ann Williams, P. Duxbury, Gail Sokoloff,
Martha Lankton, Joyce George, Lisa Connell, Lynn Lichner, Sally Lichner, Ginger Moss, Sally Penso, Corinne Russ,
Kathy Feinsinger, Kathryn Andree, Carol Snell, Keely L. Collins, Gail A. Martin, Amanda Bennett, Elaine M. Landon,
Martha Bodtke, Dr. C. E. Carr, Andrea M. Theisson, Sari J. Bennett, Elizabeth K. Heisinger, Kathleen M. Wormwood,
Brenda Williams, Sharon Borgia, Cheryl L. Price, Bonnie R. Andrews, Judith Kurtz, Yvonne L. Monroe, M.D., Dimity
Nyhus, Beatrice Spear, Ed.D., Diana Scheffler, Lida Bates, Fern H. Munro, Kay H. Lusky, Tara Cleckler, Diane Bernardo, Vicki Corby, Karen Kirbis, Karla Smith, Stephanie Collins, Yolanda Hernandez, Linda Overhauser, Margot McCormick, Sherry Hilscher, Darlene Cobbey, Debbie Collier, Patricia K. Poyner, Suzanne Jarrett, Becky Cogsdill, Tillie
Atkins, Bonnie LaFleur, Joann Murdy, Kit Guest, Mary R. Weldon, Katherine Ann Brown, Angela Gross, Kathy Hoops,
Kimberly Carlson, Gayle Garrigues, Mary Carr Melkonian, M.H. Bacha, Malia Winn, Kathy Kerns, Alison Anne Barnsley, Maureen A. Gallagher, Merle D. Ciomei, Regina Kuca, Thelma C. Bosowski, Cherie Davis, Julie LeGallee, Kathy
Barnett, Erin *A10 Gilland Roby, Tiffany Decker, Anne Germaine, Hedy Hager, Patricia E. Moriyasu, Cornelia Thomas,
Patricia Caldwell, Vicki Simon, Deborah A. Culp, Jana Cardoni, Michele Bonnot, Kathleen M. Pickett, Nancy Killian,
Alison Scott, Lottie Nicholson, Patricia A. Knuth, Vanessa Else, Lorine Marvin, Lisa Mouton, Bobbye S. Maley, Diana
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L. Weggler, Amanda C. Bear, Christy Menton, Marjorie Cage, Laura Hussey, Danie McReynolds, Cathy Wingrove,
Elaina Aggeler, Gail Palchikoff, Rachel H. Graziano, Lisa Bradley, Karen Carlisle, Michelle L. Beggs, Karen Ehrlich,
Rita L. Marubayashi, Cindy Pickering, Paula S. Millet, Lynn L. Bouthillier, Lori Springer, Kathy Sullens, Joy Godsey,
Darla Stettler, Sheryl V. Thacker, Kitty Smith, Lara M. Kutsche, L. Hutchins, Heidi Cronkhite, Tara Davis, Sarah Wenk,
Emily Graham, Audrey Winograde, Deborah Agre, Alyson Reed, Jennifer Ryman, B. Allison Gordin, Diane L. Brown,
Donna M. Dupree, Lori R. Moss, Barbara J. Heaney, Roberta Weiner, Julie Hengel, Marjorie N. Rosenthal, Grace C.
Brock, Melissa D. Miller, Denise Crowe;
Heather L. Mitchell, Mercedes Gutierrez, Katharine Anne Ludwick, Aurora N. Wallace, April Spelman, Amy Nolan
Turner, Vera A. Herbst, Clementina Colliver, Anita Levin, Eve Wittenberg, Leslie S. Heimov, Jean Guzman, Marianne
Alweis, Karen F. Johnson, Essie Lee Wahington, Lasuntha Wahington, Lee Finney, Kate Dauber, Tamra Johmston,
Janna L. Floyd, Alice D. Arrington, Ellen P. Kane, Mary Ellen Miller, Paula Vannatta, Laurie Keel, Mary Ann Borchert,
Donna M. Brown, Nancy Hult, Claire F. Beck, Ellen L. Sosin, Susan L. Avakian, Jodi Witmer, Rebecca Galvin, M. J.
Langelan, Melodie Bahan, *A11 Jacquelyn Kaestner, Claire Read, Rebecca Mary Coufal, Esq., Jacqueline Chan
Valencic, Gayle Smooklet, Diane Bibeau, Linda Eucalyptus, H. H. Billett, M.D., Mary Greenfield, Ruth A. Davis, Esther
B. Russo, Jacqueline Gray, Lisa Foster, Renate A. Coombs, Margaret W. Jewett, Jill N. Rolfe, Jana Crisp, Lillian F.
Hamrick, Sara T. Davies, Sherri E. Davis, Jayne W. Barnard, Nancy E. Biberman, Jo Ann Palmer, Patricia Kowalski,
Christy M. Newman, Carole Paul, Jan Velasquez, Claudia Withers, L. S. Alfredson, Linda Handel, Martha Shaw, Jennifer Boswell, Ellen Neufeld, Janet P. Harrison, Sarah Hunt, Michelle Fargerson, Caterina Barone, Paulette Mills, Annie
Rodriguez, Eileen Sherman, Pamela J. Abercrombie, Claretta F. Prescott, Kathleen Bartolomeo, Suzanne F. DiceGoldberg, Robin Philipbar, Tricia Barnes, Denise Ross, Andi Kaufman-Lennon, Linda Adame, Anne Branscum, Claudia
Pocock, Joanne M. Rella, Tara Crandall, Linda J. Curtis, Sherry Gold Oberstein, Esther A. Vela, Sharon Rosen, Barbara
Wolvovitz, Elizabeth Campbell, Lisa Bailey, Cathy Reilly, Kaethe Radomski, Yvonne Allen, Judith Rosenthal, Elizabeth
Weingartner, Jean Battle, Pat McLarty, Mrs. Edith C. Wolff, Ph.D., Barbara Brozik, Denise R. Catanzarite, Deborah L.
Probst, Mary Elizabeth Branaman, Carol Anderson, Shirley M. Walker, Karla Steele, Mary Beth Smith, Susan Clark
Goodgame, Janice Lipartito, Yvonne Allen, Norma Mize, Marion Wiley, Debbie C. Brant, Jacqueline McCoy, Robin
Messing, Ellen D. Lee, Leigh Anne Strawn, Janet Williams, S. P. Pines, Deann A. Pimes, Claire Dannenbaum, Jeannette
Phillips, Susan Q. Cobb, Patricia L. Fulop, Margaret E. Lawrence, Deneicc Maddox, Del Martin, Anne Ellman, Stacy
Culbertson, *A12 Beverly Isenson, Connie Blaine, Pamela Avery, Jane Wisnieski, Aurora Ioanid, Katherine E.
Thompson, Lynn Yanis, Martha Wolf, Betsy M. Aller, Susan Seavers, Debra Leah Thomason, JoAnne C. Butler, Leila
Redmond, Teresa Koelling, Jennifer Kelly Harris, Janet Gottlieb, Elizabeth Reeves, Patricia Austin, Eugenia Vickers,
Valerie Wittstein, Kathy Vaughan, Janet E. Freedman, M.D., Katherine O'Hanlan, M.D., Phyllis Landis, Debra P. Anderson, Lana DeLeon, Kimberly Ferguson, Stella Routson, Stella Routson, Claudia W. Campbell, Yvonne Tyler, Constance
Williams, Mila Honn, Cheryl Peterson, Debra Ballew, Cheyl Watson, Toni Proskey, Elizabeth Dunn, Katherine K.
Kinkead, Renee Hensley, Kathy Merta, Eleanor Myers, Kay Holmes, Deloria Z. Garcken, Carol A. Sterling, M.A., Nancy
Arbuckle, Caralee Allsworth, Beth L. Raps, Beth A. Pfohl, Susan Brossy Crosier, Karen R. West, Patricia Mott, Mary L.
Jack, Judith L. Kasten, Virginia Arnold, Gloria Steinem, Anne S. Connor, Elizabeth Janeway, Joan B. Dunlop, Ms. Risha
L. Stebbins, Joan McGuire, Cheryl Kinney, Karen Fleming-Brooks, Louisa N. Saladino, Rhita S. Lippitz, Patricia Crown,
Patricia Hite, Heidi Rowland, Jenny Norindr, Ms. Diane Horowitz, Amy C. Moore, Kimber Jones, Ms. Alice Thomas,
Peggy Queen, Ann Jones, Elin Abbott Crawford, Kimberley A. Kerns, JoAnna Pelzek, Lynn B. Cooper, Cathy Nance,
Lori F. Morris, Darla Atwood, Carolina Yahne, Ph.D., Marilyn Okuyiga, Anna-Rose Tykulsker, Elizabeth Penaranda,
Victoria Hellman, Mary Britting, Shelley Levinson, Janet Frost, Barbara Alessio, Judith Duhl, Angela Melina Raab,
Vikki L. Johnson, Louise A. Hoxworth, Kristin Hurt, Brenda J. Curtiss, Toby Egeth, Jennifer Rossmere, *A13 Denise
Parietti, Anita DeFelice, Beverly Firestone, Ms. Randel Mott Cobb, Michele Momparler, Maureen Healy, Arline Wyner
Prigoff, Rhonda Miller, Roseann Cannon-Wallace, Thea Abu El-Haj, Debra Hershcopf Kennedy, Sharon Lieberman,
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Alice Bird, Nina C. Berlowe, Jana Varrati, Naomi Ritter, Rita Johnson, Donna J. Carroll, Marilyn Fitterman, Mary R.
Hardin, Camille Greeley, Cheryl Rubin, Karen Young, Brenda Smith, Geneva King, Eleanor L. Basel, Carol Browne,
Marla Painter, Janis Compton-Carr, Kim Tipton, Patricia Maravel, Carol Strickman, Bryna Diamond, Vicki Thompson,
Wanda Rosenlund, Ronna K. Fuller, Maryanna Kennedy Milton, Kat Brennan, Elise L. Stahlman, Sylvia L. Kohrn, Laura
Kaminker, Lois Schoenbrun, Barbara Van Dyke, Sue Segura, Solange R. Echeverria, Deborah S. Belwood, Yvonne
Roodberg, Meredith Ruland, Mary R. Pena, Teresa M. Schiller, Linda Keith, Connie Frankowiak, Kay Kirkman, Judith
Kaplan, Judith S. Koven, Kim M. Pineda, Betsy Carpenter, Jean Ford, Kathleen Marks, Carrie L. Williams, Karri E.
Christiansen, Lynn Kelly, Janet F. Zuzack, Janet Axelrod, Nancy P. Roberts, Elisa Atkin, Terry Merritt Reed, Leah S.
Bratton, Karen Williams, Tammy White, Kerrie Smith, Tami I. Lawry, Deirdre Wilson, Sandra O'Briant, M. M. Murphy,
Ellen Cooperperson, Eliska Chanlett, Samantha Hill, Lucy Renee Anthony, Cherri Jacobs Pruitt, Leonora Wiener, Nan
Wiener, Brenda S. Walter, Jane Strauss, Josie Hasle, Robin L. Flood, Trena Brown, Linda Sue Berns, Beth Tapprich,
Terry Martin, Marsha Costa, Carol Southard, Elizabeth Clayton, Suzanne Sangree, Sandra L. Olsen, Wendy E. Wifler,
Mary Ches Applewhite, Kimberly A. Dauw, Mrs. Roslyn L. Katz, *A14 Sharon Riddle, Jo Malin, Jennifer Lang, Shannon McBain, Patrica A. Price, Lynell Lea Porter, Gina Maire Sinsigalli, Edna Heatherington, Ariane Justus, Ruth Soffer,
Wendy Jo Sutherland, Jane Bukertow, Adrienne R. Taylor, Carol A. Vontobel, Jaren J. Ducker, Sharon Tracy, Christy
Clark, Patricia Barron, Jane Edmondson, Catherine Pate, Lori Gregory, Denise Defa, Sandra W. Bagley, Hilary markoe,
Renee Heyum, Virginia L. Senders, Phyllis Schoenwald, Grace Bukowski, Pamela Kaufelt, Kathryn Winogura, Leonore
Unger, Jill Horowitz, Lori Segall, Elizabeth P. Hubbell, Elaine A. Barlow, Dayna O'Neill, Traci Gibson, Janice Zalen
Stiers, Sonja D. Boyd, Mona Bernstein, Larian Angelo, Bettina R. Proctor, Lynn Letterman, Chelsea Miller, Carol Mimless;
Heather Steckel, Elizabeth C. Spalding, Teresa G. Morton, April Taylor, Terri Walsh, Joyce S. Gerber, Leah L. Jones,
Elizabeth A. Gray, Elaine S. Morse, Mary K. Sholar, Laura J. Rift, Stacey Wendland, Winnie J. Porter, Lisabeth M.
Schiller, Sylvia L. Reynolds, Helen Cohen, Traci Lunceford, Gigi Middlebrook, Deborah Walsh, Ann E. Levine, Judi
Addis, Nancy Falk, Kathy Ingracia, Debbie Burnett, Ruth A. Majesky, Victoria Duerr, Pattie Adler, Nicollet A.
Markovetz, Laura Brezinsky, Gwendolyn E. Kim, Anita Wolfson, Kay Johnson, Virginia N. Durrin, Isabel Ann Freund,
Lori Lynn Turner, Ronnie Cantor, Tammy F. Anderson, Jennifer E. Daly, Julie Burns, Joyce Strum, Sara R. Tompson,
Judith A. Roberts, Deborah P. Warner, Monica Markiewicz, Judith I. Horrell, Mariquita Reynoso, Sarah Pleydell, Celeste
A. Rogers, Leslie Riggins, Susan M. Jarvis, Margaret A. McNally, Darby Leonard, Bunny Kolodner, Mary Carter,
Evelyn *A15 Gunning, Deana L. Sherman, Lona Foote, Grace G. Hardenbrook, Janis Gibson, Patricia S. Simons, Barbara Rittel, Bonnie Gardner, Angela Gunn, Margaret Bryant, Barbara Martinez, Amy Jo Levi, Debbie Klauber, Debra L.
Aldridge, Charlotte Smith, Claudia Davidson, Prof. Sylvia A. Law, Christel Urmenyhazi, Pier A. Gage, Nancy Weiss,
Maureen Conley, Bonnie Becker, Lenore Colz, Suzanne Carmona, Maryska Suda, Victoria Major, Ms. Willoughby B.
Freeman, Susan Wortham, Muffin Spencer-Devlin, Darlene Kuhr, Marie Gibson, Margaret D. Hayden, Pamela D. Smith,
Kristin A. Daly, Anne Colby, R.N., Hedy M. Ratner, Beth Schlau, Shelley Murphy, Barbara D. Taylor, Barbara Ann
Boltz, Christine Lee, Debra Cockrell, Kathleen M. Smith, Nichol Lovera, Morgan Landi, Esther Markus, Mary Bertino,
Kathi Cleaver, Jan Gray, Katie Kane, Jonna C. Cali, Patricia Bronstein, Cynthia Robinson, Cindy Robinson, Carol Platt
Cagan, Esq., Marissa Diego, Linda Eibel, Kimberley D. Keyl, Laura Zimmerman, Sylvia B. Nachman, Donna Marie Parrilli, Sandy Pettipas, Kristen Pendleton, Amy Blair, Dr. Anita Levy, Maria Dolores Farnos Garcia, Carol Mayes, Terri
Goldberg, Erla S. Youmans, Trixie Harville, Carol Lynn Mithers, Laura Katan, Sherry Knapp, Dorothy C. Scott, Cynthia
Duff, Dorothy O. Somner, Debby Kelly, Rose Salz, Linda Bosniak, Sarah Grambs, Nachama Wilken, Constance Del
Vigna, R.N., Joyce D. Byrd, Sandra Loundy, Cassandra Decker, Lois MacLean, Queenelle Minet, Dianne Presnell, Julie
E. Christian, Donna Schiller, Helen E. Neal, Roselle Sherman Levy, Stephanie Ortega, Hollis Zelinsky, Catherine Scallan, Erika Beck, Daphne Gardiner, Michelle F. Gross, Donna L. Magden, Marla Glenn, Abbe Stahl *A16 Steinglass, Carmen A. Rivera, Lee Angress, Judy R. Hodgson, Laura C. Mandell, Pam Shumway, Nancy A. Speck, Sandra Levitt, Mar-
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jorie Thompson, Dayna F. Deck, Jeana Bock, Carol E. Proctor, Riggs Bailey Roberts, M.D., Emily Schweber, Andrea
Medeiros, Jennifer Ball, Leigh Campbell-Hale, Catherine Rodriguez, Jessie Bunn, Christine S. Fukui, Angela Shaw,
Rachel Thompson, Dorothy C. Maclean, Rochelle Cohen, Jean Diamond, Pauline Whitlock, Angela Graham, Tracey
Baker, Nancy M. Rose, Cori Maciejiewski, Alison Gonzalez, Margo Berch Matzdorf, Anna M. Schuller, Judith A.
Faulkner, Teri Walters, Mildred S. Myers, Jane Kremsreiter, Glenda J. Straube, Barbara Ann Rice, Mary Hale Seymour,
Deborah G. Beitler, Lida Husik, Rachel Weissmann, Sheryl Truax, Deborah McCardell, Donnia Haynes, Anne C.
Dooley, Paula Tice, Lauren L. Kehr, Cathy Hall, Phyllis M. Rothschild, Susan Nerson, Karen M. Bendross, Debbie Bafford, Sherrell Collins, Karen Erde, M.D., F. Elizabeth Challis, Ph.D., Diane A. Kelly, Florice Hoffman, Heather Ames
Bascom, Barbara S. Webster, Roxanne Hamilton, Bette-Jean Jones, Linda Hughes, Molly Day, Carol Dunn, Deborah
Lewis, Karen Shields, Rebecca Warner, Judith K. Pollock, Aviva Futorian, Moira M. Megargee, Michelle A. Maese,
Karin Schmerler, Lori Rothman, Helen Knode, Laura Hahn, Victoria Andersen, Randi Morgan, Joan West, Mary Anna
Singer, Polly Brinkley, Arwyn E. Elden, Susan Brock, Valerie Berman, Margaret D. Conover, Gloria Stein, Tiffany
Stevens, Marilyn Eisenberg, Barbara Houston, Suzanne Davenport, Janice E. Hayes, Christie Morse, Tina L. Frankin,
Carol Leavenworth, Karol Evans, Mindy V. Harris-Silk, Merry Demarest, Patricia Ann *A17 Parish, Gayle Breslow, Suzette DuCharme, Pamela Gaarde Lipari, Mary L. Stone, Judy Roumpf, Margaret Brown, Mary M. Miller, Wendy Solomon, Laurette S. Garner, Delores D. Hathaway, Eilene Manning, Laura Willmann, Jean Hunt, Nancy R. Manley, Holly
Laney, Patricia L. Doyle, Jeanne M. Rasmussen, Rita Hayward, Paula Haller, Robbin Henderson, Kathleen M. Schardt,
Melissa L. McWhinney, Ms. Joyce L. Eisold, Kate Kennedy, Penny Hollingsead, Helen Hammond, Sonja M. Gjerde,
Merry L. Nasser, Robin Schneider, Peggy Friedlander, Doris Goldberg, Nancy J. Daynard, Teresa C. Beem, Phyllis K.
Kushiner Cucchiella, Paula Ageuire, Elsie Schwartz, Esther R. Herst, Susan L. Sauerwin, Kathi D. Hamm, Susan Fearon,
Cathy Nevy, Janice E. Casey, Edith Zuckerman Key, Kathryn McKnight, Martha Ann Terry, Cathy Eckford, Lenora
Davis, Joan Rosenthal, Lisa Howard, Lisa Howard, Connie Rose, Professor Marie Ashe, Kristen M. Fife, Denise Park,
Maria L. Turner, Kathy Martin, Carol Mason, Nancy Sarah, Julie Bellaart, Stacy Finke, Yael Shuman, Johnnie Chase,
Mary Admire, Kelly Neubauer, Sandy Wiltzius, Mary Ann E. Claxton, Ann Rosenthal, Janetta Yanez, Margaret Bowman, Esq., Francine Szymanoski, Teshia Dunn, Judith Winslow Walcott, Alta Withers, Naomi Jacobs, Mildred Sanchez,
Carol A. Bryant, Karen L. Shepard, Gail M. DeFonzo, Linda Layne, Gabrielle Semel, Carol A. Schrager, Teresa Cotton,
Pamela W. English, Rollie Greene, Janet Todd Bliss, Susan Conklin, Maria Blanco, Brenda Huber, Vickie Knight,
Deanne Korte, Kathy Cruttenden, Beau-Janette B. Feldman, Carolyn G. Koehler, Cathleen M. Gentry, Lynn Wall;
Barbara Beyers, R.N., M.A., Doreena Wong, Sarah Shannon, Lynn Hoff, C.C. Young, *A18 Celeste L. Steffancci, Emily
Kraus, Dakota Butterfield, Jane Van Keuren, Gretchen Hall, Deborah R. Hensler, Valerie Evans, Terese E. Duggan,
Maria T. DeFelice, Betty Klausner, Barbra J. McCandless, Jean Schermer, Alexis Gabrielle Edwards, Megan Burbick,
Lori Schroyer, Eleanor Bravo, Marie E. Berglund, Judy Sue Wolfson, Belinda Elwell, Deborah de Santos, Wendy
Wheeler-Coltrane, Audrey L. Nelson, Lori Carter, Barbara F. Tice, Bonnie Santosusso, Mrs. Marian Straehley, Marlene
Wicherski, Page H. Wilson, Marianne Wilson, Tina Tatgenhorst, Carol J. Hammond, Maureen Burke, Anita Blair, Tonia
Beauchman, Sigrid Ede Knuti, Margaret Dorfman Chandler, Wanita Bowley, Jill Stockinger, Katharine Rowe, Nancy J.
Groszek, Anita McFarland, Margaret A. Lutz, Karen Kuhlman, Linda Watson, Marilyn Hutchinson, Cindy J. Esparza,
Terri A. Dowd, LuAnne King, Laurie Emrich, Gael Murphy, Margaret Cahill, Chere R. Palenske, Carrie Kamperman,
Elizabeth M. Calhoun, Sherry Glover, B.C. Cornish, Anne Bassett, Colleen Clarke, Ph.D., Terri J. Wolf, Amber Hollibaugh, Eileen E. Brumbaugh, Katherine A. Wolfe, Susan G. Stewart, Jane Hershey, Michelle Gandy, Thora M. Guinn,
Jeanne Londe, Joan Spiegel, Summer Wadsworth, Joan E. Stokes, Brandi Martin, Susan Gleghorn, Ruth Watson, Laura
J. Strychalski, Cheryl A. Hudson, Mary Lou Montauk, Carol Beitel, Lois E. Wilcken, Sarah E. McKinley, Sheri Utain,
Angela Calcaterra, Katherine G. Webb, Maisha Strozier, Leah C. Pruitt, Barbara Loeb, Kristin K. Urry, Amy Mills, Virginia A. Goble, Ann Crane, Elizabeth Perry, Lorraine Yglesias, Jennifer Shortridge, Julie Gale, Elizabeth Moody, Robin
Hurt Skaletsky, Jamie Endriss, Ann Schneider, *A19 Roxanne Shepherd, Leonora S. Gorfinkel, Carol A. Everett, De-
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 33
borah M. Roach, Barbara Warkus, Penny Bird, Marsha F. Enright, Ruth Ann Campbell, Allison M. August, Annette Van
Howe, Angelita Garcia, Priscilla Oppenheimer, Joanne Savoie, Kimberly Sparks, Darlene A. Brown, Abby Stella Eason,
Lucy A. Thulin, Lynn Baumeister, Nancy Thomas, Cathleen Gutekanst, Sharron Kimsey, Donna Janosik, Ruth Henrich,
Debbra Nelson, Kara Milbank, Brooke Lauter, Celina Hicks, Karen Wilson, Donna June Goodroe, Diana Ferrol, Rebecca
Roberts, Shireen Miles, Tina Chappell, Denise L. Moore, Eileen Morley, Penne Martindale, S. J. Childs, Tina Alvarado,
Laura B. Woltz, Tracey Garrett, Pamela Benvenue, Barbara Rosen-Share, Tracey Chamberlain, Linda Sprague, Josette
Reznick, Anna T. Brewer, Mary Fitzgerald, Sandra Cox, Caroline Hopkins, Marion S. Damick, Charlene Nelson, Melissa
Moore, Brigette Zimmer, Helen Minth, Jo Ellen Pasman, Cynthia A. Pearson, Patricia Cannon, DeAyn Jackson Curtis,
Janet Breyer, Andrea Meghrouni, Wendy Gates, Tabitha Durland, Jaci Fentriss Muzamel, Rayna Armour, C. Kent, Cynthia Bell, Anne Moroh, Kristin S. Williams, Mare Brixie, Melinda Robin, Patricia A. Cope, Sarah B. Johnson, Franceen
Park, Ellen E. Mitchell, Cathy Jo Hutto, Gail Bickford, Adrien K. Wing, Heather Ross-Ault, Judith P. Sherman, Mary
Ann Burg, Jill Williams Ross-Beres, Christine Harper, Elizabeth Henehy, Julia Carter, Rita Schaefer, Mary B. Welch,
Charlotte E. La Rue, Ruth Harris, Sharon Ramirez, Debbie Abney, Karen Bray, Susan Campbell Wood, Jodene M.
Young, Kathryn Petersen, Anne Guthrie, Bernice Horn, Carolyn Johns, Mary Ellen Strote, Elizabeth A. Moses, Rebecca
Ann Raja, Terri *A20 E. Lewis, Andra J. Crippen, Leslie Hughes, Priscilla Randall Middleton, Loralee Newman, Vera L.
Dafoe, Molly King-Gilpin, Linda Anderson, Jackie Franklin, Lynn Barg, Janet Nudelman, Linda J. Maisner, Allyson
Cook, Marci Banes, Marlene B. Naide, Peggy Davis, Camille Tischler, Barbara Durkee, Janet Chapman Mason, Michaela Condit, Patricia L. Stearns, Faye Nuell Mayo, Martine Yingling, Margaret C. Stewart, Randi West, Jennifer H.
Lee, Nancy Rehwaldt, Yvonne Schomber, Tracy Patterson, Andrea Pacic, Kim Shipman, Andrea J. McNeil, Laura Burroughs, Madeline Weaver, Julie Summersquash, Ms. Christine Ammer, Darcy A. Baker, Judith Perlstein, Lori L. Warren,
Cathleen Campbell, Fran Kaplan, P.K. Adelmann, Donna Costa, Lorraine Doyle, Laurie Callaway, Kristin A. Wooten,
Marjorie M. Howard, Edie Rice-Sauer, Courtney Flavin, Norma L. Jones, Maryjo Schmerber, N. Elizabeth Moore, Patricia E. McCuaghtry, Joyce A. Schoenheimer, Stephanie Byrd Fair, Aimee Merrill, R.N., Mrs. Ruth A. Harvey, Sandra Lee
O'Neal, Tammy Shackelford, Janine M. Guerrini, Denise Hertz-McGrath, Jenny Wasburg, Diana Workman;
Kathy Moore, Berdina Green, Gabrielle Gorton Gallegos, Daniela Salvioni, Jill Belasco, Alix Kates Shulman, Rachelann
Esposito, Kristina Blackwell, Helen Rosenberg, Lynne M. McCollough, Paula Chin, April Laveen, Margo Smith,
Stephanie Feyne, Ann M. Powers, Laura Gregar, Ronnee David, Julia Just, Barbara Hoskinson, Kathleen Vance, Jami L.
Howe, Ann Denkler, Isabelle Katz Pinzler, Kate B. Rousmaniere, Susan Courtney, J. S. Miller, Vicki Jacobs, Helen S.
Harrison, Kim Murphy, Elizabeth Ridley, Wendy Dillon, Tobylee Holmgren, Carol A. ??lamone, *A21 Belinda Harris
Turner, Lynda H. Schneekloth, Beth Meyer, Christine Crandall, Sandra Sinck, Erin T. McCoy, Sara K. Shinbach, Marcia
L. Sauter, Carmen Rumbaut, Susan Jane Brumbaugh, Mindi J. Hovin, Christina Guzman, Traci Petersen, Sono Taki,
Piper Phillips Caswell, Debbie Neufeldt, Nina Sturgeon, Dana Gaurkel, Lindsay Roberts, Catherine A. Haraldsson, Judie
F. Albano, Rebecca Pardo, Nancy Kushubar, Nancy Adams, Amy Dickerson, Betty Lazarus, Mary Munoz, Barbara A.
Becker, Margo Cuisinier, Ann Glasser, Lynn Bruser, Lynn Bruser, Shona Nicola Balfour, Jeanne Poland, Sandra A.
Nunes, Donna Woodley, Nancy Gaines, Jennifer L. Robinson, Janice K. Becker, Karen Cook, Marsha S. Clark, Nancy
Claussen, Anne L. Atchison, Robin E. Brooks, Barbara Evans Fleischauer, Lorraine Marie Crouch, Betsy Vonk, Aloha
Windsor, Sarah Scher, Deborah Hopping, Donna Solomon, Ann W. Rose, Monica Ericksen, Jessica Agre, Lynn Thomason, Nickie Bischoff, Carol E. Hayes, Denise L. Holness, Tracey Hill, Dr. Carol R. Schniebaum, Mary Jane Wilkie, Mrs.
Ruth Proskauer Smith, Phyllis Friedman, Betty Ann Miller, Laura Pinsky, Alexandra Leban, Ruth Harrison, Debra
Cooper, Jacqueline Huey, Ellen W. Schrecker, Antoinette Schruefer, Mary Ann Kroeck, Peg Ruggiero, Lisa Bosshart,
JoAnn C. Beasley, Jeanne Goodin, Brooke Petersen, Brooke Petersen, Cherri Bennett, Marilyn Hughes, Kimberly T.
Winslow, Adele Clarke, Lynn McCarthy, Elizabeth P. Chase, Annette Marie McAlvey, Ann A. Walker, Robin Lynn Shumer, Vivian Rudofsky, Cathy Panasuk, Susanna Florance, Leah Jonas Peavy, Angela M. McDowell, Dr. J. Carpenter DeClerque, Linda Webb, Cecilia Munez, Billie Hara, Henny Zenglein, Tammy *A22 Bane, Susan McDaneld, Mary L.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 34
Dudziak, Patricia Paddison, M.D., Cynthia Katz, Mary Howe, Monique Gamble, Lorraine W. Young, Elizabeth Haines,
Donna R. Lenhoff, Leila Williams
849 Jane Roes
NAMES OF FRIENDS OF AMICI CURIAE
Karin G. Horwatt, Robert L. Main, M. J. Micheson-Thiery, F. Taylor Peck III, Penni Eldredge-Martin, Cynthia L. Cease,
Steven Zweig, Mary S. Huhn, Helen T. Davidson, Kathlene Mount, Dana Gallagher, Betty Knight, Judy B. Dodds, James
D. Weddell, Sunya Kent, Margaret Daniel, Sandra Snow, Sara Feldman, M. Gray-Schlink, Kenneth R. Wright, Annette
Jurgelski, Susan Stoughtenger, Kathy Gavin, Jeffrey W. Peterson, Susan Morton, Torge Lorentzen, Terry L. Hunter,
Melanie R. Bond, Marcie Brensilver, Johnell McLean, Francine Franklin, Kimberly Cowie Hague, Joan E. Burke, Joan
G. Babbott, M.D., Ora B. Hughes, M. Teresa de la Vega, Phyllis Bailey, Elizabeth Lansing, Parker F. Harris, M.D.,P.A.,
Carolyn V. Brown, M.D., Patricia L. Sledge, DVM, Patricia A. Henry, Sonja K. Binkhorst, M.D., Bonita M. Riggens, Rieta Walker, Barbara Whipple, Helen Schotanus, Karen Friedman, M.D., Catherine Powell, Dr. Todd D. Little, Georgia
Yuan, Donna M. Wilber, Seth Hendor, Wynell King, Elizabeth A. O'Brien, Lisa Harris, Mirka J. Negroni, Barbara F.
Hartley, Shari Altman, Clare Marie Ackroyd, Frances R. Fish, Chas. B. Brack, James G. Friedl, Mary Lunn, Glenna F.
Kops, Thelma V. Baca, Bruce Whitelam, Anita Sobin, *A23 Adaleah Jeri Camara, Virginia Sparks Volker, Robin M.
Coseo, Cynthia King, Catherine L. Nevlin, Christine Strong Ott, L. Ann Herzog, Mrs. Ruth I. Knee, Bernice Hamele,
Christine Vercellino, Ralph E. James, Susan J. McConocha, Randall L. McConocha, Sheila J. Kaplan, Ph.D., Deborah C.
Lindsay, Linda M. Fancher, Lynn Jacobsson, Phyllis Rossiter Forbes, Judith Silverman, Anne Baker, Delores Graham,
Ruth K. Nash, Dawn Clarke Palchikoff, Anne W. Steytler, A.C.S.W., Rosemary K. Coffey, Helen J. Pointer, Maida S.
Tryon, Rita Schneider, Laura B. Tracy, Robin E. Parks, Dale Heinzelmann, Hope Morrison, Henry S. Kahn, M.D., Edna
Mae Reynolds II, Rosemary C. Langford, Lori A. Welch-Rubin, Fayette K. Stroud, M.D., Carl Stroud, M.D., Molly
McGurk, Joan Costello, Christopher Hebert, Barbara Westhafer, Patsy A. Downum, Mary Wynne, Holmes McGuigan,
Mrs. Karen Bunch, H. Hassoun, Ric A. Souto, Marion M. Oman, Patricia Feldhaus, Laura Moye, Leslea A. McCord,
Rhonda Chaikin, Henry F. Todd, Aline Bernstein, Emerson Bruds, Christy Menton, Norene Kuznezon, Patricia ZeigenGrover, Patricia Zeigen Grovek, Joanna S. Calne, Charlotte B. Foster, Ellen Shair, Carolyn Becker, Iva M. McAlpin,
Heidi E. Moon, Donald Hurford, Arthur J. Comeau, Lauri Benton, Catherine S. Wooledge, Camille Cox, Shellie Klein,
Paulette Goodman, Barbara Greer, Virginia S. Caton, Tariq Mahmood, Marsha Epstein, M.D., Susan I. Cohen, M.D.,
Jean Reiley, Rosemary Sinclair, Ms. Brazella D. Robinson, Jane K. Roberts, Mrs. Esther Zuckerman, Betty Lou Ward,
Willard Chilcott, Marilyn Fisher, Joyce Strauss, Littleton Waller Tazewell, Fritz R. Ward, Eve Malakhof, Phyllis Weiner,
Mrs. L. Friedman, Vera Glaser, *A24 Betsy Arnold-Leahy, C.N.M., Susan Lasko, Francis G. McGuire, Elizabeth Weisbard, Clara Harari, Sheila F. Higgins, Carolyn R. Whiting, Julie Komarow, M.D., Nancy Balaban, Roger A. Lang, M.D.,
Alan Cunningham, Chella Courington-Livingston, Alison Cox Jones, Melissa Segal, Kristin Atwell, Dawn Latham, Edna
E. Moate, Tracee Craig, Mary P. Dillon, Jaime Lluch, Kendalle D. Carns, Esther A. Gekoski, Carol S. Holmes, Patricia
Spielberg, Y.-Antoinette Echols II, Cindy Judd Hill, Ann R. Russell, Simon Glickman, Karen Hummer, Wendi Huntzicker, Dorothy M. Rich, Doris F. Parker, Brenda Mayo, Cynthia L. Turel, Vera Goodman, Denyse Brown, Mary Doerr, Ruth
Dreyfuss, Diane Margolin, Ellen Bilofsky, Carl Betz, Mrs. Helen Papalia, Marlene Y. Ebert, Kathryne J. Shaw, Ann S.
Cowie, Martin E. Gardner, Jr., Ann Doerfler, Doreen Lorand, Nora H. Jason, Sue M. Bartczak, Irene D. Stevenson, Barbara Lee Chase, Helen M. Moore, Cynthia O. MacKay, M.D., Rena Zurofsky, Rebecca Long, Roger A. Harless, Carol
Gonzales, Norma Ladd, Sidney Kulek, Jennie L. Goldstein, Jessica Evans, Stanford J. Glanzberg, Amy J. Kepple, Patrice
Radwan, Nancy Wilson, Helen L. Hollowell, Becky Gesteland, Arlene K. Jaffe, Anne Wesley, Carolyn S. Allen, David
Tai, Marjorie Troutner, Maria J. Thorpes, Mrs. Gertrude H. Benson, R.N., Tinie Notis, Christine H. TenBarge, Rhoda E.
Harris, Herman S. Alpert, M.D., P.C., Anne C. Carter, M.D., Anja S. Kondo, Roxanne Bloom, Anna Buchholz, Marilyn
Savin, Frances Sanchez, Sandy Rowland, Virginia L. Bailey, Floy French-Landau, Julia Grella, Kelly A. McCarthy, Bar-
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 35
bara Stackhouse, Lisa Goldberg, Harriette L. Baggett, Ellen Hofler, Mary Ann Reames *A25 Moore, Ursula H. Poland,
Myra J. Neylon, Aatis Lillstrom, Susan Ward, Dennis Nadler M.D., Peggy E. Pressman, Ann S. Wolff, Carl Khalil,
Pamela Mandeloff, Lee Howard, Linda T. Diamond, Suzanne Reiter, R.N.C., Anita Billado, Stephen Marshall, George E.
Leedom, Jeanette Huettner, Mrs. Ginny Shollenberger, Sally C. Wallace, Leslie A. Houston, Donald O. Collins, Jr.,
Joyce Shevrin, Elizabeth van Court-Wels, Karen K. Brady, Jean Dunham, Teri Stewart, Sharon G. Levin, Gwenyth Jackaway, Joanne Z. Harrison, Barbara Cole-Kiernan, Michele Papale, Bonita Franklin, M.D., Miranda Edison, Steffanie
Garrett, Elizabeth A. Moon, Sharon Goodhart, Sally A. Farr, DeAnna Loretto, Julie Macdonald, Rachel Grant, Deitra
Lundberg, Marilyn W. Silin, M. Catherine Maternowska, Gale Kempf, David W. Kempf, Katherine Olix, Joan Rahm,
Mrs. Simon Grossman, Mrs. Jane L. LeRoy, Judi Justus, Elizabeth L. Dodge, Gail Michaelisow, Elaine Berge, Lauren
Heim, Sandra W. Greiff, Ann Adams, Judy T. Harford, Mark A. Smith, Anne Castleton, Jacqueline D. Wurzelbacher,
Mrs. Lidia R. Walters, Sheila Brass Chadwick, Amy K. Naegele, Diane Maddex, Katherine Cross, Robin Slim, Ethel R.
Johns, Elisabeth R. Bettman, Yogendia A. Shah, M.D., Elizabeth P. Holdsworth, Vivian Sokitch, M.D., Ellen L.
Hamilton, Priscilla M. Leith, Serey Andree, Cathy Bacquet, Yvonne Odegard, Susan J. DuBois, Cynthia Funckes, M.D.,
Steven Wensel, Carmel Weifert, Carol Post, Gail Gramarossa, Alice R. Erb, Margaret Zackowitz, Linda Leete, Larry
Dickens, Deborah Perloe, Jonathon Marley, Helene England, Mark Glass, Paula King, Gladys Witt Strain, Michael Epstein, Susan R. Monson, Carolyn S. Schultz, Marie E. *A26 Clarke, Rose Marie Shivy, Marc Silver, Sharon M. Hall,
Gail Davis, Dilla G. Tingley, Victoria Jones, Mabel C. Donnelly, Steve Andreas, Bill Tomczak, Mara Braverman,
Christina Dempsey, Roberta Taylor, Laurie Berkman, Karen M. Eisgruber, Deanna L. Schmidt, B. Darren Burns, Karen
J. Isbell, Christine Clark, M.D., Arlene Kerber, Carolyn R. Pardue, Hannah Sidofsky, Marcia Holly, Linda Del CasinoHanna, Dorothy M. Sohl, Hilda J. Thomas, Mary Jo Cardinal, Bonnie F. Rodemich, Janet H. Murray, John Levy, Judith
R. Diehl, Leslie B. Mitchell, Frank A. Circosta, Karyn M. Schmidt, John W. Field, Robert S. Stevens, Christopher
Lande, David J. Iguall, Melanie F. Michaelson, Heidi L. Wilson, Tonia E. Jones, Brian K. Telfari, Christine E. Rua, Felicia Lynn Silber, Eric M. Turner, Margaret C. Binzer, Toby Ticktin Back, Nancy Rae Reinisch, Kelly Harrington,
Genevieve Grein, Margaret Anne Parker, Elizabeth K. Canfield, Mary B. Kolman, Susan M. Boettger, Shirley B. Bolstad, Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D., Kim Palchikoff, David S. Lawrence, Margaret Mikyung Lee, Jennifer Zereski, Marie
E. Roberts, Col. Anthony J. G. Timmermans, Jr. (USAF-Ret), Nicole Hodges, Patricia Shuff, Cindy Biggs, Constance
Bennett, Gloria Feldt, Susan P. Clarke, Kate Webster, Elizabeth M. Martin, Louise S. Hiatt, Tyler Jarvis, Mary E.
Smith,M.D., Ms.Fay Martin, Judith Madsen-Carney, Frank Carney, Sharon L. Kuebbing, Martha Klems, Judi A. Lamble,
Kelly Dennis, Diane M. Blair, Julia Abrahams, Mrs. S.W. Miller, Jeffrey R. Butler, Lynn Hermann, Katherine C. Snook,
Linda Sutton, MA, Sharon Shortridge, Donnella Slayton, Genna Southworth, Sharon Shepherd, Anna Blain, Esthr M.
Singer, Ph.D., Nancy Jerin, *A27 Joan Wargo, Audree McElligott, Suzanne Claire, Fannette Sawyer, Robert Meischner,
Suzanne M. Brewer, Laura McDougle, Coleen M. Jarvis, Andrea H. Kasarsky, Tom Dolgenos, Daniel H. Bloom, Deborah S. Vick, Jo Ann Pippin, Isabel Rosenberg, Dennis A. Caine, Joan K. Hertzberg, E. Edward Sachez, Theresa Hull,
Elizabeth W. Muller, John Ferguson, Barbara J. Mapp, Jill Ferguson, Jinny Gender, John E. Hipskind, M.D., Dr. Betsy
N. Callahan, Dorothy Gartner, Caroline Lund Sheppard, Maureen Karp, Monica Brady, N. Marie Youmans, Vincenza
Petrilli, Beverly M. Haas, Diane Gnepp, Jane H. Hope, Mary S. Gould, Andrew B. Cohen, Joy Matsuura, Asta Farrand,
M. C. Ziegler, Carmen A. Perez, Robin Weirauch, Paulette D. Ache, Kathryn Henderson, Lorraine Lathrop, Mildred
Woytisek, Virginia R. Barmen, Michelle Wiznitzer, Stephen C. Fleeger, Winifred B. Shewmake, Bernadine Ryswick,
George O. Kolombatovich, Florence Garland, Janet C. Cooper, Dr. Anne B. Johnson, Linda S. Dye, Peggy Priegel,
Richard M. Dennis, Patty Taylor, Carol M. Savkovich, Marti M. Mann, Dr. Meredith R. Margolis, Cindy A. S. Grainger,
Jean Peterman, Hector Zevallos, M.D., Diane Hoellerman, Leona M. Thomas, Charlotte A. Ballew, Felicia F. Ferlin,
Nancy Kachel, Margaret A. Brown, Deborah L. Ouellette, Dolores A. Weglarz, Jane E. Williams, Hadley Sharples, Lois
Jean Turner, Judith C. Frey, Mrs. Gretchen H. Miller, Lisa M. Small, Michelle Healy, Mary Lerner, Catherine King,
Donna Sue Warden, Michael Wong, Martha Hopkins, Heather P. Read, Nancy Martin, Lenore D. Moody, Harold N.
Moody, Alice Miller, Monica L. Hieber, Carole M. Smith, Phyllis Sharlin, Suzanne Welker, April Halprin Wayland, Car-
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 36
ol F. *A28 Kessler, Naomi Bleifeld, Elizabeth Werthan, Deborah D. Demars, Juliet Johnson, Deborah A. Tomblyn,
Panseata Bryan, Robert Ralph Reed, John W. Robinson, III, Joan A. Garbagni, Luish Hernandez, Kristin M. Brokl, Sally
van Schaick, Virginia S. MacLeod, Ellen A. Rojo, David L. Chittenden, M.D., Barbara Reinert, Marilyn Epstein, Joseph
Dimeo, T'Brin E. Back, Amy Thatcher Clarke, Ellen Wedum, John Fendig, Christina Taylor, Carrie Seligmann, Nancy
Belmont Dayhoff, Leslie A. Neel, Kathy J. Malone, David Scobey, Elizabeth Thomas, Florence Schlesinger, Ruth Ruggeri, Mary Ann Elliott, J. T. Ebert, Lauren Mosso, LeClair Bissell, M.D., Doris Mills, Cheryl M. Cardran, Norma
Hymes, Colleen Sheehan, Kathleen Klein Cooper, Albert Gray, Sharon Ganellen, Karyn Schwartz, Maja Wiesinger,
Douglas A. Stout, Lynda C. Dale, Patricia Askham, Judith Stimson, Douglas Angus, Carol W. Friends, Kathy Maguire
Waltz, Danielle Fontaine Byers, Lucinda W. Short, Margaret I. Walton, Richel B. Lupkin, Jean McLaughlin Tanney,
Cynthia Mathews, Lauren J. Pittenger, Clara H. Serene, James E. Durham, Renee F. Durham, Richard Clark, Sandra C.
Sheldon, Linda M. Roby, Ms. Leah Sayles, Peter Blanc, Kathy Berkman, M.D., Virginia M. Houk, Pamela Lukowski,
Alice Franklin, Leigh Ann Hodges, Dan D. Barker, Ruth H. Meyer, Brian Ebert, Mindy Berman, Susan R. Ward, Alec I.
Deull, Meredith H. Gaines, Margaret H. Main, Helen P. Nassar, Darby Bloodgood, Frances Hoffman, Ph.D., Sylvia R.
Margolies, Liesbeth Gerritsen, Jacquelyn L. Williams, James R. Hackney, Jr., Margot F. Horwitz, Marilyn C. Trainer,
Colleen D. Gray, Doug Brown
*B1 APPENDIX B
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LETTER-2.
B4
LETTER-5.
B5
LETTER-12.
B6
LETTER-28.
B8
LETTER-32.
B10
LETTER-34.
B11
LETTER-53.
B12
LETTER-63.
B14
LETTER-80.
B15
LETTER-121.
B16
LETTER-123.
B23
LETTER-125.
B24
LETTER-130.
B33
LETTER-140.
B34
LETTER-149.
B36
LETTER-152.
B37
LETTER-157.
B38
LETTER-160.
B39
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 37
LETTER-173.
B42
LETTER-181.
B43
LETTER-187.
B47
LETTER-209.
B49
LETTER-212.
B50
LETTER-216.
B50
LETTER-245.
B53
LETTER-247.
B54
LETTER-259.
B58
LETTER-261.
B61
LETTER-267.
B63
LETTER-270.
B66
LETTER-278.
B68
LETTER-286.
B69
LETTER-294.
B71
LETTER-296.
B78
LETTER-318.
B79
LETTER-351.
B83
LETTER-369.
B86
LETTER-568.
B87
ROE LETTER-26.
B88
ROE LETTER-27.
B89
ROE LETTER-53.
B91
B93
ROE LETTER-78.
B93
B94
*B4 Letters of the Amici Curiae Women Who Have Had Abortions
[FN1]
The texts set forth herein
in numerical order are the complete transcriptions of letters quoted in part in the brief of
Amici Curiae women who had had abortions. Letters of amici curiae cited but not quoted in the brief are lodged with the
Court.
FN1. The texts are reproduced with the punctuation, spelling grammar, etc., in the original letter.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 38
I.
Letters of Named Amici Curiae
LETTER-2
I am a divorced professional woman who is raising three children alone. I barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. My
children are very healthy, happy, and loved.
At one point in time, I found myself pregnant by a close friend. He said he would support whatever decision I decided to
make. I have not only heard that before, but was also married to the man who said it. I have yet to receive any assistance
of any kind in raising my children.
Most times, I feel like I am at the end of the ropes, juggling a career (I am forced to work 2 jobs to support my children,
but one of them is a career), finances which are barely met, child raising alone and a reasonable facimile of a social life. I
was unable to handle another responsibility at this point in my life.
*B5 I chose abortion. I chose to limit myself to dealing with the too much responsibility I have now. All women should
have the right to chose how much responsibility they feel they are able to handle. Especially since she is the only one she
knows can she can count on.
***
LETTER-5
In 1977 I had a safe, legal abortion, felt only a great relief at that time, and have never regretted that decision.
In fact, I was particularly aware of how important that choice was. Because fifteen years earlier, in 1962, when I was a
college student, I could not get a safe, legal abortion. I endured therefore a cruel, forced pregnancy and a forced surrender of my first child, a daughter, to adoption. I have felt only regret and will for the rest of my life. I can describe having an abortion. The pain of the loss of my only daughter is indescribable.
There is no comparison between the loss of a fetus to an abortion and the loss of my real baby girl to adoption. She disappeared into the unknown and I was never to know whether she was alive or dead.
No woman should live in a society where she can be forced to get pregnant, or be forced to complete a pregnancy and
surrender her child to anyone else, or be forced to have an abortion or be forced to raise a child, or be forced (or forced
by coercion) to do anything with her reproductive self she does not choose to do. Each woman should be free to make a
personal, private decision about how she will use her reproductive self.
*B6 ***
LETTER-12
This is in response to the letter asking for the experiences of women with abortion, legal or illegal.
In 1941, I was already married. I was teaching school; my husband had been fired without explanation or recommendation from his job and could not find another job. I found myself pregnant; my diaphragm had failed - to this day, I don't
know why or how. A pregnant woman was unthinkable in a teaching position. So the prospect was no income, no job for
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 39
either of us, and no money in the bank, no feasible doubling up with parents or friends. There was only one solution and
it was illegal. There was no one I could tell or appeal to. I was frantic and had to go on smiling as if nothing were wrong.
One friend knew someone who knew someone who had had an abortion and eventually I got a telephone number, only to
learn that the doctor was away on extended vacation. When, in desperation, I asked my doctor if he knew of an abortionist, he refused even to talk without the presence of my husband. After I had brought my husband to see him, he decided
he couldn't talk without the consent of my father whom he had known for many years. Only then did he give me a name
of a man he had heard was reliable, but if he butchered me it would be legal for my doctor to try to put me together
again. Nice. My father wouldn't consider the matter without telling my mother who, we all knew, would become hysterical. Which she did. I would never have told her for that very reason. It was awful.
*B7 So amid the anguished cries of my mother, with a painfully large amount of cash in my pocketbook, I went to the office of a strange man at a strange address and prayed for the best. I had been a law-abiding citizen and this deception and
illegality was almost as painful to me as the procedure itself. I was fortunate that the man did a good clean job under an
anaesthetic. I rested an hour and then sneaked out the back door, and took a taxi home. Friends dropped in that afternoon
and even to them I made no mention of what I had just been through.
And how did I feel? Relief, relief, RELIEF. Emerging from several weeks' nightmare, I could hardly believe I was home
free. Did I ever regret the abortion? Never for a moment.
The tone of this letter 48 years later may give some indication of the emotions I did feel. Outrage! I was 26 years old and
self-supporting. I was married (If I had been unmarried I would probably have committed suicide. Women did in those
days.) A wife was expected to have intercourse, wasn't she? I was using the available contraceptive correctly. And I was
acting in the most responsible way I knew. The decision about my body that should have been mine alone had to be OK'd
by husband, doctor, father. How humiliated, how trapped can one be?
Two years later, under happier circumstances I had a much-wanted boy and then a much wanted girl. For God's sake
don't let abortion become illegal again.
***
*B8 LETTER-28
I signed the attached form permitting you to use my name for court suits that you are filing regarding abortion. I am also
giving you permission to use my name in court.
You asked if I would tell my story in regard to abortion - here it is.
In 1977, I became active in the anti-abortion movement. By 1978 I had been elected [to a national office of a national
anti-abortion group] ....
In 1980, I found myself pregnant as a result of a forced sexual encounter. All my pro-life beliefs flew out the window
when I realized that my life was also a human life, and that I knew I simply could not bear a child from such an ugly
experience!
I went to a clinic in my city (one which I had even picketed at one time) and I had the abortion there. Strangely I had no
misgivings afterward, and no guilt (I had assumed I'd become suicidal.) I was surprised by how easy it was, both physically and emotionally.
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Now, 9 years later, I am solidly pro-choice. Whereas before I was pro-life because of a set of beliefs (how fragile those
beliefs were!), I am pro-choice now because of a very personal experience. I have found that beliefs formed through experience are almost always the best!
Since my abortion (quite some time later), I became a born-again Christian. Strangely (to most people, anyway), I find
my faith in Christ strengthens my pro-choice commitment. Jesus Christ tells me as a Christian to judge not, that ye be
not judged (Mt. 7:1). I think that all who pass judgement on women who have abortions *B9 should take His words to
heart. I feel strongly that God put me into the situation where I was faced with an unbearable pregnancy, in order to teach
me that I must never judge another person until I have been in their situation. I learned my lesson very well.
When I was pro-life, I had no knowledge of what illegal abortions were like before 1973 - if I had known, I doubt I
would have been a right-to-lifer. But I didn't know, and now, I have been reading quite a bit about what women had to
endure before Roe v. Wade. I pray to God that we will never have to return to those evil days! I was only 15 when abortion was legalized, so naturally I don't remember what it was like then. But now that I do know, and now that I know
what my own experience has taught me, for me there is no turning back.
I am not worried for myself; I an married now (and I have been for 6 years). If abortion is outlawed again, my husband
and I are well-off enough financially that I could afford to fly across the country to get an abortion if I should need one
again. My concern now is not for myself; it is for all the women who cannot afford to travel to another state (or another
country) if abortion is outlawed in their own state. And of course, if they are desperate enough, they will take an old
coathanger and perform a do-it-yourself. And they will die.
Knowing what I do now, I will fight to defend safe and legal abortion with all the strength I have. That is the Christian
thing to do, as far as I am concerned.
***
*B10 LETTER-32
I had an illegal abortion in 1959. This may be a rather rambling story, but abortions in 1959 were rambling stories. The
way one found an abortionist in those days was to call friends and acquaintances and see if they knew anyone.
After a number or phone calls, I reached a male friend who said his girlfriend was pregnant and also wanted an abortion,
so if I found anyone I should let him know. Eventually I found someone, who was presumably a doctor and who came to
your house to perform the abortion. I called my friend's girlfriend, Mary, and we arranged to have the doctor perform
both abortions the same day -- hers first at her home and then mine.
The male doctor and his male companion arrived at the house around 7:00 P.M. They told me to boil some water (!) and
clear off the dining room table. I spoke with both of them for a few minutes. The doctor smelled of liquor and was slurring his words. I asked his companion if he were drunk and he said No, we just had a couple of drinks before dinner. I
asked them to leave and not return.
The next day I called Mary to see how her operation went. She said OK, except that she noticed the doctor had grease under his fingernails. When she asked him why a doctor wold have grease under his fingernails, he said, I'm not a doctor-I'm a mechanic. She went ahead with it anyway. Incidentally, she was a former Miss .... and the doctor/mechanic called
her regularly for a date. She had to threaten him with the police to get rid of him.
*B11 I later asked my friend who had recommended this doctor if he knew the doctor was actually a an auto mechanic.
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He said yes, he did, but he did good work and had learned his trade from an old colored lady in North Carolina.
I eventually did find a doctor to perform the abortion. He had an office on ... Avenue. The whole thing was slimy and
sleazy and is still very vivid in my mind.
The bottom line is that women will always have abortions. If it becomes illegal again, they will go back to the alleys, the
coat hangers and the auto mechanics for them. I hope to God that Roe v. Wade is never overturned.
***
LETTER-34
When I became pregnant for the second time three years ago my son was eight months old and my husband and I had not
made a decision about a second child. Our first child was unplanned and I had had great difficulty adjusting to the
changes being a parent brought into my life. I was not behaving irresponsibly either time I became pregnant - I was 31,
and 32, respectively, I was married and I was practicing a reliable form of birth control that failed.
With this second pregnancy I was forced to confront my true feelings about parenting and I knew introducing another
child into a marriage that had been shaken by the unexpected arrival of a first baby could not withstand a second child. I
went through a week of serious soul-searching, involving long discussions with my husband and a therapist. It was a difficult *B12 painful week but when I made my decision I knew it was the right one for all of us.
I recently heard that right to life advocates are trying to implement a study on post-abortion depression. The day I had my
abortion was one of great relief and thanks that I had the freedom to make a choice, that my destiny, the quality of my
life and that of my family was something I could control.
This is the one political issue for which I will go to the streets to express where I stand.
***
LETTER-53
Although I have had an abortion, and consider the freedom I enjoyed to choose that option a blessing, I would like to relate the experience I had with a friend, before Roe v. Wade gave all of us that freedom and the right to protect our bodies
and lives.
This experience happened when Helen and I were in high school in Virginia. It was about 1969.
Helen was in love with Tom, and she became pregnant. She was 17. The only thing they could think of to do was to try
and find a doctor who would help them illegally. Helen's parents were very strict, and didn't approve of Tom and how
serious their relationship was. Helen and Tom didn't have the thousands of dollars it would have taken to go to New York
and have a D & C in a hospital. That was about the only legal way we knew of at that time.
Through word of mouth, Tom heard of a doctor in Washington, D.C. who would provide injections that he said would
cause a miscarriage. Three shots, a week apart, *B13 were required. Each shot cost about $50. They decided to try it. I
gave them all the money I had to help.
The doctor said the shots were sheep placenta. God only knows what they were. They made Helen very sick, but she
stayed pregnant.
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Tom heard about another doctor who would perform an abortion. We went to his office, somewhere in a bad part of
D.C., late at night. His office was a bedroom in his house. God knows what kind of equipment he had there, or how
clean the place was, or what kind of training he had. I'll never forget sitting in his living room, listening to Helen scream.
When it was over, he insisted that we leave immediately, without giving Helen more than 15 minutes to rest and recover.
She was white as a ghost, and in great pain.
The doctor gave her no post-procedure instructions, no mention of a follow-up appointment, nothing. If I remember correctly, it cost about $500, which Tom borrowed from his parents on some pretext or another.
A few days later, Helen was still bleeding, and she felt awful. She finally went to her family doctor, and he discovered
the abortionist had punctured her uterus.
Helen recovered, married Tom, and later learned that they could never have children because of the damage done by that
butcher.
While this experience was horrible and tragic, I'm sure it wasn't all that extraordinary. It was just so damn unnecessary,
and should never be allowed to happen to anyone ever again.
*B14 My own experience was far more ordinary, and I'll always be thankful for that.
I had the good fortune to have an accidental, unwanted pregnancy when I was an adult, and abortions were legal.
Somehow my diaphragm failed me, and I became pregnant while I was in college.
I was able to go to an immaculate clinic, with a caring and skilled staff. I was provided with counseling - both before and
after - and with information, a phone number to call 24-hrs-a-day in case of complications, a follow-up examination, and
a wonderful nurse to hold my hand. And the cost was something I could afford.
Thank you for all you are doing to make sure the horror stories don't become commonplace again.
P.S. I'd rather my name not be used, because it could hurt me in my profession. but I authorize you to use it anyway, because the threat is so serious that freedom of choice might be diminished. I feel a responsibility, as a result, to stand up
and be counted.
***
LETTER-63
I hope you will send my letter on to the Justices of the Supreme Court of the U.S.A.
My experience with the abortion I had in 1952 was a positive experience. The worst aspect of the abortion was having to
leave the U.S, my 4 sons, and spend a great deal of money which we could ill afford in order to go to Panama where the
operation could be done safely and legally. One way or another I was bound and determined to have that abortion. My
reason for being so adamant about it was that my brother was born with a cleft lip and my third son was *B15 born with
one too plus a cleft palate. I nearly went out of my mind waiting for the birth of the 4th child. There is no way I would
have been sane by the end of a fifth pregnancy. I would have been of no use to my children or my husband in that condition. It was an easy decision to make.
You should also know that wonderful as my 4 sons are, I have had no regrets and never wondered about what that fetus
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was or would have been as I'm sure I would have done if given up for adoption. Having the abortion was like having an
unwanted wart dispatched.
I only wish there had been Roe vs. Wade back in my day of decision, but I rejoice that others can now make their own
choice. Please don't take that inalienable right away from women of our country.
***
LETTER-80
This letter is being written in support of PRO-CHOICE.
At the age of 34 I had to face that choice. After seven years of marriage, my husband and I were told our first born would
have a degenerate I.Q. chromosomal syndrome, being born with an I.Q. of 40 or less and continuing to degenerate. (I had
had an amniocentesis.)
We knew we could never afford the necessary life-long care, not could we bare the thought of a child of ours living in an
over-crowded, loveless institution or home. Many friends in our community called in condolence, even one telling us of
her divorce due to an institutionalized child; and how she wished she had had a CHOICE in *B16 those dark ages prior
to legalized abortion rights.
Having been an elementary teacher for twelve years, I knew the struggle children with at least average I.Q. must go
through to succeed. I could never bring a child with less into the world.
My husband and I went through the procedure hand in hand, shedding tears together, but our life goes on now with a very
healthy baby boy who is now six years old and will not be a burden to tax payers or society.
It is very easy for the in-experienced to philosophize on any given subject, so please listen to those of us who have experienced this very personal CHOICE, and let it continue to be a woman's choice.
***
LETTER-121
I am angered that a minority of very vocal fanatics are now making me feel that it is necessary for me to put on the public record one of the most private, difficult, important, and far-reaching decisions in my life. However, I feel that I have
no choice in this matter because women's lives, the quality of those lives, and women's legal personhood are at stake.
First I'd like to tell you a little bit about who I am because I am not just a statistic and because I might not fit your stereotype of a woman who would have an abortion. Most importantly, I'm alive thanks to safe, legal abortion. Furthermore, I
don't think I could ask for a happier life, although some would say I should be in constant grief due to my abortion.
*B17 I'm a college student, often on the Dean's List, studying to become a German teacher. At least, those are my plans
right now, but I have so much going for me and so many options that I'm not sure if that's what I'll do. I enjoy my education immensely and I plan to continue it beyond a bachelor's degree.
Besides being a student, I'm also a journalist. I've edited my high school newspaper, written for my college paper, and for
a year I was a paid freelance writer for the ... of ... county. I'm also an active volunteer. I've spent many hours working
with children, especially gifted students who need extra encouragement and attention, through YWCA/YMCA programs
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since my first year in college and I currently lead one of those programs.
I have a boyfriend whom I love very much and intend to marry after we both graduate. He is studying to be a history
teacher. We recently celebrated our 5-year anniversary. Some of the things I enjoy are running, traveling, weightlifting, photography, and cooking. Other interests I pursue are animal rights (I'm a vegetarian), music, and the Pro-Choice
movement.
I have a wonderful and fun family. We've had our problems in the past but we generally get along well. My mother is a
nurse in a ..., my father is a computer scientist, my younger brothers are students, and my older sister is married with two
young children and a house painting business.
I personally don't think a twenty year-old could ask for a better life than mine. I like to believe that the pursuit of happiness is an important and unique *B18 principle upon which my country was founded and I wish more Americans were
able to enjoy the fruits of this philosophy as much as I have so I do what I can to help.
When I was fifteen I had an abortion. I had been somewhat ignorant about the workings of birth control. I wasn't totally
ignorant, but most of my information came from peers. So when my father took away my birth control pills (an unfortunate, misguided reaction to a rebellious teenager by a frustrated father), I wasn't very alarmed and I didn't cease having
sex with my boyfriend. I planned to get more pills as soon as I could (which wasn't easy, not being able to drive), but in
the meantime I thought it would be easy to predict my days of fertility. That's what I'd picked up from friends. And besides, when you're fifteen years old you don't really believe you could become pregnant any more than you believe you
could die tomorrow.
For a couple of weeks I suffered from morning sickness and I was tired all the time. I was so nauseous that sometimes I
couldn't attend school. My mother guessed what was wrong some time during those weeks and confirmed her guess by
snooping through my purse and finding the receipt for my pregnancy test. Needless to say, we didn't have the perfect
mother-daughter relationship.
When I found I was pregnant, I was in disbelief. I told my boyfriend right away. He was fourteen years old. We were
very scared and we discussed what we should do. Neither one of us believed that the fetus was a human life yet and we
were sure we weren't ready to be parents (just as sure as we had been when we bought my birth *B19 control pills). One
of my biggest worries was what his parents' reaction would be. I believed we wouldn't be able to see each other again if
they found out. I also worried about my parents' and grandparents' reactions and the reactions of people at school. I felt,
with good reason, that my family had enough problems without my adding this to them. And, as little as I liked school at
that time, I was worried about the future of my education. So our decision was that I should have an abortion. I had considered some other options, namely suicide or running away and giving the baby up for adoption. I actually made a list of
pros and cons of suicide. But there was no way I would've been able to pull off either of those two options and I'm glad I
didn't try to. My boyfriend and I decided we wouldn't tell our parents about it and we would get money from selling
things we owned.
As it turned out, my mother discovered our secret. She was angry but mostly concerned, and I think she felt somewhat
guilty. She asked me what I wanted to do and didn't really try to sway me one way or the other. She told my father I was
pregnant and he wouldn't talk to me for a long time, which was something he had never done before. I felt very guilty,
like I'd let everyone down.
My mother took me to get the abortion and paid the $250.00. My boyfriend wasn't allowed to come along although I
wanted him there. My mother was very non-judgmental. Just once I remember she told me You don't have to do this if
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you don't want to, but I assured her that I really did.
At the clinic I met women of various circumstances. Some were teenagers but *B20 most seemed to be older than me.
One woman was married with one son. She told me she was pregnant because her birth control had failed, but she and
her husband had planned to have only one child. They couldn't afford to give a second child a quality life. She had
already been planning to have a tubal ligation when she became pregnant. Several other women were there because they
had tried the new sponge method of birth control which was being vigorously advertised on T.V. at the time. Obviously it was not reliable.
I received a great deal of counseling at the clinic. I was told about the procedure and its risks and about effective birth
control. Furthermore, people there made sure more than once that I had thought my decision through. They were very
thorough about this. No mention was made of a baby growing inside me, as is apparently done at certain fake abortion
clinics. Instead words were used which would not insult my belief system. However, I knew about the controversy surrounding the topic and the argument that abortion is murder. This argument had never been convincing to me or my boyfriend or my parents because it is based on certain religions rather than science and I had not been brought up with any of
these particular religions.
For me, the abortion was mercifully almost painless and the two-week recovery period was without any serious problems. I had only been about eight or nine weeks pregnant at the time. Afterwards, I was distraught and doubtful at times,
but not nearly as much as I had been before my abortion, and mostly I just felt relieved. I felt freed from the trap I'd been
in, *B21 glad to be alive, and ready to make a new start.
Since my abortion I've listened with interest to the controversy and I've even written to and talked with some of the
pro-lifers to see if there was something I hadn't been told. But without exception I've found their opinions to be based
on their religions rather than verifiable scientific facts. Furthermore I've found that most of them leave out women's circumstances in their arguments and some seem to have an unspoken desire to use forced pregnancy and labor (or unsafe
illegal abortions as the alternative) as a punishment for what they consider to be the immoral behavior of women. As
good as many of their intentions may be, their vision tends to be narrowly focused so that they forget to consider the true
probable outcome of what they propose. Many forget to account for circumstances such as the life of an unwanted child,
the equally immoral behavior of the men who made the women pregnant, and the unfortunate financial realities of parenthood in America. Many of these people try to reduce the issue to a simple one, but I know from experience that it is
not.
About a year ago I thought I might be pregnant again. I told my boyfriend and he took me to get a pregnancy test. I'm on
the pill but I know that no form of birth control is 100% effective. We discussed the possibility and decided that we
would probably have a baby and give it up for adoption if I was pregnant. That option makes more sense at this time in
our lives than it did when we were younger for several reasons. First we have stronger support systems to see it through
now than *B22 we would have had then, in terms of the strength of our own relationship, close friendships with others,
and healthier, more supportive families than we had had. We see adoption as a way to give happiness to a childless
couple, but unlike before it wouldn't be a disruption of our lives and families at a crucial time. Also, it would pose less of
a threat statistically to my health and life to go through pregnancy and labor at 19 or 20 than at 15, physically as well as
psychologically. Finally, if we decided for some reason that we could not bear to give the baby up for adoption, we
would be in a considerable better position to provide a life for her or him without jeopardizing our futures, our relationship, or the well-being of the child. It turned out that I was not pregnant again, which was a relief to us.
But I know that this may happen some day. A woman can't stay on the pill indefinitely because it poses risks to her
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health which aren't entirely understood even now. I know I'll have to switch birth control methods some time in the next
few years and unless scientists come up with something revolutionary my new method will probably be something less
reliable than the pill.
If I do face another unwanted pregnancy, married or not, I will need to be free to decide what to do about it without the
interference of my government or religious fanatics, based on all of the circumstances surrounding me, my pregnancy,
my health, and my family at that time. I cannot foresee now what those might be, but I can't imagine who would possibly
be more qualified than me, aside from God, to assess all of those circumstances *B23 surrounding my situation and to
make a decision about my body and my future. Thank you.
***
LETTER-123
My name is .... I am 26 years old. I am married and have two children. I had an abortion when I was 19 years old. It was
before I had my two children now. I was not married. The reason I had the abortion was,
1. I was not working. I didn't have a car are any kind of insurance. I felt that I could not afford to have a child. If I would
have had the child, I would have had to go to a charity hospital. (Are had it in the street) I could not have gone to work. I
would have had to draw food stamps, welfare, wic, and low income houseing. Which you the taxpayer would have had to
pay. I didn't feel that you the tax payer should pay for my mistake.
2. I didn't want to marry the father just to help pay for having the child when he nor I wanted it.
3. I believe I was to young to care for a child when I couldn't care for myself.
4. I don't believe my family should have to pay for my mistake.
I also considered adoption, but after having two children I do not think I could have given my child away after brith.
Having a child is a very emotional and physical experience. I believe that you are anyone else should no't have the right
to force me are anyone to have a child. That person may not be emotionally ready to have a child. Are you going to be
there to help take care of this child for the rest of its life?
*B24 I personally feel that a fetus is not a life until it is born from the mother. I do not believe it is considered a life at
the time of conception. Because it can not live with out the mother. This is suppose to be a free country, What happen to
freedom of choice?
I would like for you to stop and think how much money it would cost you the tax payer, for all the hospital bills, food
stamps, welfare for unwed mothers, wic progam, and many more progams, to care for these unwanted children which
most people can not afford.
I would have had the abortion even if it was illegal. It would have been just a litte more difficult.
Please do not change the law.
***
LETTER-125
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I am the 58 year old mother of five adult offspring, and the ex-wife of two men, one of whom fathered three, and the other of whom fathered two, of my children. All of my five babies were delivered by Caesarian section. I am also the grandmother of seven grandchildren.
Back in the 1950's, when abortion was still a word that you whispered behind your hand; and when having an abortion
could land you in jail for years, I had two illegal abortions. They were horribly painful, both physically and mentally. As
a result of the first abortion, (1955) I suffered a crippling infection on the Caesarian scar located on the inside of my uterus; this was the result of an excessively zealous overscraping on the part of the person who performed the abortion. I
would not stand up straight *B25 nor walk easily for a year after this experience. Also, my early attempts to find an abortionist who didn't want to have intercourse with me as part of the procedure, led to my being severely traumaatized. In
addition, there were deep psychic scars which I incurred as a result of being indirectly encouraged to feel that I deserved
to suffer for killing a three month old fetus.
In the second abortion, I nearly died while still lying on the table, just after the procedure had been completed, due to an
injection of penicillin to which I am lethally allergic. The abortionist didn't have the medical expertise to have anticipated such a possibility, and he had not consulted me.
I chose to have both illegal abortions (the procedure was Dilation and Currettage) without any anesthesia, because of my
fear of complications which might possibly kill me. As it was, if I hadn't been awake to croak out the word adrenalin
after that lethal shot of penicillin, I would have died immediately.
My reason for getting the first illegal abortion had to do with the fact that in addition to living below the poverty level
($250 a month) with my three little children (eldest child: four and a half), I was no longer married. After a difficult divorce, my ex-husband had never respected the agreement that said he was required by law to pay alimony and child support. I was twenty five, we were living in Montreal, and I had no money to pay a lawyer, so I turned to my father for
help. He told me that neither he nor my mother would help me, because they were ashamed of me.
*B26 When I discovered that I was pregnant, I went to my doctor, who was one of the top obstetrical surgeons at the ...
hospital; he had delivered my third living child. He made it clear to me that under the circumstances, (including his
awareness of earlier physical abuse that my husband had inflicted on me and on our children), he felt that an abortion
was indicated, but that he could not possibly perform it, or even discuss the matter with me any further until the abortion
was completed by somebody else. He gave me a number to call, and told me that he would be able to take care of me
right after it has been started.
There followed a very bad time. When I walked into the office of the man whose number my own doctor had given me,
the first thing I saw, piled up on all the shelves and on the floor in the corner as well, were hundreds of bottles filled with
clear fluid in which were floating fetuses and embryos. This man told me that he was a pathologist. He immediately
asked me to pay him the cost of the abortion: $250. I did so. He then told me to remove my underpanties, and he stood
watching me and laughing.
After an extremely painful pelvic examination, in which he tried to play with my clitoris, I sat up and jumped off the table in shocked protest. He then showed me his engorged penis, while he insisted that we could have intercourse together
until I aborted. Or if that didn't suit me, I could put his penis in my mouth while pumping a plastic dildo in and out of his
rectum. If I chose the latter alternative, he told me he would be willing to refund the $250 cost of the abortion. After a
*B27 physical struggle, I broke free, ran out of the door and down the steps. I was so distressed that it wasn't until I was
on the bus that I realized I was minus both my underpanties and my $250.
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Although this seemed awful to me, an even more awful part of it was that when I called my own doctor back (the one
who had given me the number of the pathologist), he refused to listen to me. I said I wanted to tell him what had
happened, because I was sure he didn't realize....The doctor became extremely angry, and shouted at me that by my telephoning him I was endangering his professional career. In a scathing voice he said I've done all I can do for you at this
time. There are LEGITIMATE babies waiting to be born. Is that clear to you?
I said yes, in a small voice, and hung up the phone. There were legitimate babies waiting to be born, so that meant there
was no time for illegitimate fetuses to be disposed of. My feeling of guilt was surpassed only by my sense of outraged
helplessness. In all of this, there were still three little mouths to feed, hundreds of diapers to change and launder, and
many family and household details to be arranged, just as if nothing else was happening.
The next evening, a friend brought me fifty quinine tablets to swallow. They were supposed to cause immediate abortion.
After two days of vomiting and intense stomach pain, my basic situation remained the same: I was still pregnant.
The following week, I went to my boss who ran a pharmacy. I told him what I needed. He told me he knew of an abortionist, but it would cost me $500. He loaned me $250 *B28 and my boyfriend borrowed the other $250. My boss said to
me, Now, remember: these guys are all alike. They want your NOOKIE! Keep your eye on what you want: an abortion.
Stay calm!
I then went to the office of a man who would arrange the abortion. He locked us into his office together and suggested to
me in a whisper that if I did not want to pay money for my abortion, he knew of a number of young, handsome, professional men who would be willing to perform various sexual acts (with me) in front of a small, high-class audience and
a famous photographer. He swore that this would make me abort the fetus within a day, and it would cost me nothing.
Wordlessly, I handed him the envelope with $250 in it. I then told him that I wanted a simple abortion. He laughed and
told me I was crazy. Then he said I was to meet a man on a certain corner at seven that evening. The man's name was
Mister Smith, and he would drive me in his car to a place out of town where he would perform the abortion. I would
pay Mister Smith the other $250. He would drive me home after the abortion.
Mister Smith performed the abortion without anesthesia on a kitchen table in a cabin somewhere in the Laurentians.
His wife assisted him. The operation itself was excruciatingly painful. To help me control my screaming, Mister Smith's
wife gave me a wet towel to bite down on. I stared at a painting by Rembrandt, which adorned a calendar on the wall.
Mister Smith insisted on showing me the aborted fetus. There was such a large amount of blood that I fainted. He drove
me home, and I spent the night curled around my *B29 precious children, praying to God to keep them safe from harm,
because I had proved that I certainly could not.
The following day I went to my o.b. at [the hospital]. He gave me permission to have an appointment with him now that
the abortion had been done. After he examined me, he told me that although the fetus had been successfully aborted,
the Caesarian scar on the inner side of my uterus had been cut, and scraped raw. It had already become badly infected.
After he treated me for the infection, I felt obliged to tell my obstetrician what had happened. He said he would not listen
to me, that he didn't want to know about it. He told me: It's over now, Don't think about it again. Ignorance is bliss.
He also told me that it was his conviction that if a woman becomes pregnant with an unwanted child whom she tries to
abort, she deserves to have a bad time. As we say in Quebec, ABORTION IS ILLEGAL FOR A VERY GOOD REASON!
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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I have had plenty of time to think over what he said to me then, and I disagree profoundly with his appraisal of the situation. I have concluded that abortion ought to be legal for a number of very GOOD reasons. In my own case, by the time
I managed to get an illegal abortion, it wasn't just the lining of my uterus that had been cut and scraped and scarred; it
was my soul. And in the long run, it was the members of my living family who suffered the consequences of my guilt
and shame and exhaustion, for I became a mother whose terror and depression often overcame her ability to be loving
and happy, or even her desire to be living. No matter how I tried to think differently, my having had *B30 an illegal
abortion meant that I had not only suffered, but I had endangered the life of my children's mother (the life my living children depended upon): MY life and THEIR life, but I had also committed murder in the eye of The Law. After the abortion, I was unable to walk for several months. For many years longer than that, I was unable to govern my brood with
confidence, or to live my life with pleasure or gratitude.
*(Of course, Montreal is in the Province of Quebec, which is extremely Catholic. Even the poorest of the poor among
French Canadian families are encouraged to have as many babies as they can, presumably to build the strength of The
Church by helping to increase its membership. In Quebec, abortion is still as dire a sin as suicide. Many women who are
the mothers of large, obedient Catholic families, have lost most of their teeth and hair by the time they are thirty, and in a
small town in Quebec, for example, one is considered to be unfaithful if one hasn't proffered at least 6 or 8 new little
Church members to the Catholic family. When i lived in Montreal, there were signs that said, Birth control is against
God's Law!)
My second abortion took place in the USA. in 1962. By then, I had been married to my second husband for several years.
We lived in Washington, D.C. I had already given birth to my fourth Caesarian-born child, and I became accidentally
pregnant a few months after I had stopped nursing him. This pregnancy was the result of unsuccessful contraception.
When my husband gave me time, I always used a diaphragm with spermicide jelly. (My husband refused to use anything,
believing *B31 that it spoiled his pleasure, and that it was solely the woman's business to protect herself from getting
herself pregnant.) We both felt that it was far too soon for me to have another baby. My health was fragile at that time,
and the obstetrician told me that my uterus might rupture if I tried to have another baby so soon after the last. But even
with this admonition, it was illegal for my doctor to abort my pregnancy. Lacking any sensible legal alternative, I chose
to have an illegal abortion. I was given the name of an abortionist in Manhattan. The abortion was performed by ...
whose office and fingernails and assistant were all filthy dirty. After the abortion, which was a very painful and slow
process, I nearly died from a surprise injection of penicillin to which I am lethally allergic. I hemorrhaged, my throat
began to close, and as I swelled up, my blood vessels popped like fireworks. I managed to call out for adrenalin, which
they eventually administered. My recovery from this experience was slow and difficult, and lonely.
I began to dread and to loathe sexual intercourse. This new attitude of mine caused my husband to begin to look elsewhere for his pleasure. I felt victimized: I was Damned if I did, and Damned if I didn't.
I also had a legal abortion, in 1965. This was when I was again pregnant: far too soon to safely deliver again after my
fifth child was born. (Note: My uterus did in fact rupture when I was later pregnant with my sixth child, which I lost.
Both my uterus and ovaries were removed at *B32 that time. The doctors had no difficult choices in performing that operation.)
In order to obtain the legal abortion, I was required to be certified by two psychiatrists as mentally and emotionally unstable and suicidal. (The certification process was humiliating; one of the psychiatrists told me I was suicidal and
needed prolonged help, which he gave me over the next seventeen years for two hours every day, six days a week, always with the threat that I might kill myself if I didn't depend on him and his treatment...at last I managed to realize that
at over $200 a day, I was paving his terrace, sending his children, and probably paying for his wife's new mink coat!) It
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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was not a stabilizing realization.

The legal abortion was performed by my obstetrician at the ... Hospital. I went into the hospital the night before; my doctor's attitude was practical and matter-of-fact. The procedure itself was done with sensitivity to my emotional as well as
physical condition, which allowed me to recover quickly and without added stress. Sodium pentathol was administered
during the D and C, and afterwards, I was given an antibiotic for infection and codeine for pain. When I went home, 24
hours later, I was in good condition considering the fact that I had just undergone an abortion. And even though I was
sad, I most definitely did not feel like a murderer!
I felt sympathetic support from the doctor and from the nurses. There is always a sadness that goes along with any kind
of procedure that takes away the possibility of a new life. But what makes the difference is attitude.
*B33 In choosing to have abortions, I was choosing to remain strong and healthy for my family.
But by putting my life at risk in order to avoid taking on more that I could cope with, I ended up feeling like a murderer.
At least with a legal abortion, I felt that I could be protected from the kind of abuse or harm I had experienced with the
illegal ones.
Recently, I read an article which said that over 40,000 babies die of starvation every day, in the Third World. Can it be a
morally superior choice to bring so many new, hopeless little lives into the world to suffer from hunger and die of starvation without ever knowing life's happiness? If saving so many lives from misery and futility were to be considered a
function of abortion, then it could be seen as a compassionate choice rather than a crime against life.
***
LETTER-130
I am a 60 year old woman deeply troubled by the possibility that women's constitutional right to determine their own reproductive rights is being threatened and may be taken away. It is almost hard to believe that there is even a possibility
that this could happen after so many of us fought to achieve this fundamental right. I know, of course, that the threat is
very real and I urge you to abandon this path of thinking.
When I was in my twenties I had an illegal abortion. There were no other options that I saw at that time. Because of the
illegality, it was extremely difficult to find someone who would *B34 discuss how to find someone to help me. People
were afraid. As a consequence, when I finally found a source I had gone beyond the time of a safe procedure. I lied to the
doctor because I knew he wouldn't do it if I told him how far along I was. We all hear the stories about what it was
like. They are true. He insisted I come by myself which I did. Is there any way I can describe my fear? He was unclean,
he joked a lot, his hands were rough, his breath was bad. He forcefully approached me to have sex with him because
what harm would there be under the circumstance? That, of course, explained his reason for insisting that I come
alone. So on top of the fear for my physical safety in that situation, the agony of decision about what I was doing, the
need to keep this secret from everyone I knew and face it alone, there was the disgust, repulsion and deep fear that if I
didn't do what he wanted he would send me away.
It is not my intention to describe the physical procedure, the discomfort, the sounds that I will always remember. That
isn't the point. It was something that I did and I am not sorry. Sad, yes. Sad that it had to be, sad that it had to be such a
traumatic experience that will always be a part of me, sad that there was so much agony and turmoil trying to find help.
I never want another woman to have to experience what I went through. My plea is that simple.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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***
LETTER-140
I am writing today to share my experience with abortion in the hope that *B35 it might, in some small way, help the Supreme Court understand why it is so important that abortion remain safe, legal and affordable.
In 1964, I was a nineteen-year old wife and mother of an infant daughter. My daughter, born five weeks premature, had
been diagnosed soon after birth with a congenital heart defect. She would need open-heart surgery as soon as she was
strong enough.
When our little girl was a year old, I became pregnant as a result of a contraceptive failure. I tried very hard during this
time to image caring for a second child. We considered our finances, our emotional resources and support system. We
sadly had to admit that our marriage was already under incredible strain. It seemed impossible to have another child
without doing irreparable harm to our existing family.
Abortion was not legal. After several weeks of searching, I found someone who would perform the procedure, but his fee
was more than we could afford. Beginning to feel desperate, I tried several times to abort myself. Before I could do myself any more harm, the doctor, unlicensed in the U.S., agreed to reduce the fee to whatever we could afford after hearing
our situation. I was fortunate. I watched a neighbor rushed to the hospital after she tried to abort herself.
Since that time, my daughter has had two successful heart operations, graduated from college and is a healthy productive
woman. She also has a sister born in 1977.
I have heard it said that abortion is just a convenience, especially for middle-class women. I assure you, pregnancy is no
*B36 mere inconvenience. A pregnancy consumes a woman's body, energies and resources for nine months, many times
with complications, sometimes at risk to the woman's life. After pregnancy, there is a child, life's most sacred responsibility, for eighteen years, for life. I am not well-to-do. I cannot offer my children the world on a silver platter, but I feel
that I and every woman must have the right to offer her child the best chance for life that she can. Every woman must
have the right to enter into this life-absorbing responsibility when she decides that she can.
I strongly support thorough sex education for young people, contraceptive research to develop safe, inexpensive birth
control, and safe legal, affordable abortion. I hope the Court will as well.
LETTER-149
Two weeks after I discovered I was pregnant, my husband, who had suffered for years with an un-diagnosed illness, was
found to have a malignant brain tumor. After two very expensive visits to psychiatrists I was given permission to have a
leagalized abortion at a local hospital. This was in 1960.
For the next 3-1/2 years I spent most of my days at ... I was the only one who could interpret my husband's garbled
speech. He died at the end of that time.
To have the abortion was the wisest decision I have ever made. I could not have been as helpful to my husband or my
two children during the horrible time of this dreadful illness, had I also beenR responsible for a baby.
*B37 I have never regretted my decision. I had no physical or mental ill effects. I have never had any feelings of guilt. It
was a decision of survival as far as I could determine.
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It is all too easy for anti-abortionists to judge as long as the unwanted pregnancy is not theirs. When or if the problem becomes theirs personally, they will quickly be on the pro-choice side!
***
LETTER-152
In the summer of 1982 I had a legal abortion. I was twenty-seven years old and living with the man I later married. I was
using birth control, a diaphragm, but nonetheless, I became pregnant. My mate and I discussed the options, and he basically told me that whatever decision I made, he would support.
I chose abortion because both my mate and I were abusing drugs at that time, a fact I am not proud of, but one that must
be considered in the decision to bear and raise a child. Our financial situation was disasterous, we were in debt from hospital bills from surgery my mate had had on a bleeding ulcer and from a recent IRS audit. We were both working, but it
was barely enough to take care of the bills and our drug habits.
Our health was poor, as was our emotional state. The thought of bringing a child into an environment of fighting and turmoil associated with drug abuse was inhumane to me. I didn't believe adoption to be a viable option, as I didn't think that
I could give birth to a healthy baby.
Choosing abortion was a tough decision, one I hope I never have to make again, but *B38 I am thankful that the option
was open to me. My husband and I are drug-free now, financially solvent, and plan to have a child in the near future.
People who don't have options often do desperate, dangerous things. I implore you not to take the right to abortion away
from American women. We alone are responsible for making choices concerning our bodies' reproductive systems.
***
LETTER-157
My name is .... I left home when I was 17. I found myself pregnant when I was 18. I was the mother of one at 19. At 20,
the mother of two. Given my Catholic upbringing, it was completely out of the realm of possibility to choose anything
other than having a child and if the father was willing, to marry. I married a boy no more ready to be a father and husband than I was ready to be a wife and mother. Neither of us attended college and had barely any idea of how to support
ourselves. The marriage lasted on and off for eight years. During most of those years we went hungry and were under the
incredible pressure of basic survival. We had children as children and had to figure out fast how to grow up. It's not as
simple as sink or swim, and the emotional and psychological damage that is wrought cannot ever be undone. I experienced two nervous breakdowns during those years, with scars I live with to this day. I had made the decision to have
children when I was totally unprepared economically, physically, emotionally, morally, spiritually, and psychologically.
And why? Simply because I had been programmed to *B39 believe it was the right thing to do. The critical thinking
never entered into it, I did what I was supposed to do. It changed the course of my life forever.
I had always been opposed to abortion vehemently, never thinking it through myself, just condemning those who believed in it. It was easy to feel a rather smug, self-satisfied righteousness to be on God's side and dismiss the voiced
concerns of women who found themselves faced with painful options. During one of the several separations I had with
my former husband, I found myself pregnant. I could not just blindly assign my fate once again to someone else's beliefs.
I was forced to confront my beliefs and make my own decision. After grueling soul searching, I chose abortion. Had that
option not been available to me I know, given the state of my emotions from all I had been through, I would not be here
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today writing this letter.

The world is full of neglected, abused children. We see and hear about them every day. What is the sense of adding to
their numbers by limiting a woman's options over he own body? If this legislation is overturned, would any of us be able
to face any of the resulting unwanted children, poor, neglected or abused and say well, at least you're alive? The gift of
life can mean shockingly little when your life is never free from poverty and abuse.
Please, let us as a society make our choices wisely.
***
LETTER-160
Yesterday, I called Mass Choice because I am more and more frightened that the *B40 choice to end an unplanned pregnancy, which was of critical importance to me and my two children on two separate occasions (when the birth control I
was using failed to protect me), may become unavailable to other women.
I also chose, during the course of a sixteen year marriage, to have two children (mentioned above) by artificial insemination as my husband was unable to father children. The children are now 12 and 14.... They are healthy, attractive, straight
A adolescents with the normal problems of adolescence.
However, at the time of the divorce, when I was in my late 30's, the children were 1 and 3. We were thrown suddenly into poverty as my ex-husband refused child support. I had no job skills and had never dated. At my first job I earned
$100.00 a month less that the child care cost. The job, required me to work 70 hours a week (ass't. manager of a McDonald's). (My husband had disapproved of my working outside the home even though for most of the time we were married
we had no children and he was away 14 hours every day.) Our life was a nightmare of fear and struggle after the divorce.
Twice during those years immediately following the divorce, during the course of a relationship we hoped would lead to
marriage, I became pregnant. I recognized the signs immediately. I was terrified. Thankfully, a friend told me about [an
abortion clinic]. (It saved my life and my children's lives. An illegal abortion would have had to be my choice were not
abortion legal and available through the Center at a reasonable cost. They provided counseling on birth control as well.
(It *B41 wasn't until after the second abortion two years later that I had an I.U.D. implanted. It has proved effective and
safe for me in the 9 years since).
The Center was a port in a terrible storm. To have been forced to carry the pregnancy to term and then give the baby up
for adoption, as Bush has suggested, would have destroyed my children's and my life. I'm from a well-educated, upper
middle class background, for me personally welfare is not an option. All my children would learn from that is how to be
on welfare instead of how to work your way out of a difficult situation.
It's been eleven years since the divorce. I'm forty-eight. I haven't even dated for a couple of years. My focus is on the
children and completing my Ph.D. in Applied Behavioral Systems Theory. The children and I live in a house I was able
to buy last summer. We're happy. We made it. But just barely. In those first years our situation was so fragile. I have,
now, enormous empathy for other women who suddenly find themselves fighting to keep their family together in a sudden poverty they themselves did not cause. Not having the free choice for a necessary abortion at such a time would, in
many cases, be a virtual death sentence for the family. The strength of feeling I have in this is born of my own struggle.
I was thankful to the medical profession for giving me two children I would not otherwise have had. To me they are miracle children.
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And I am thankful to the medical profession for providing a safe, immediately available abortion, twice in my life.
*B42 I chose to have two children.
I chose not to have two children.
I was luck to be able to choose.
I fervently hope you will not take away the choice from other women.
***
LETTER-173
Please use this letter in any way it can be helpful in filing friend of the court briefs or in any other way it can be useful to
the cause of continuing freedom of reproductive choice for all women in the United States. I am willing to have my name
associated with any use of it.
In 1984 I became pregnant by accident. I was married to a man who had become a physically abusive alcoholic. We had
one child, age 3, at the time. I didn't see any way out of the relationship for myself at that time. My husband was not then
working. He had left his step-father's company and I believed (correctly) that his chances of working steadily were dim
because of his behavioral problems. I was the sole support for my family at this time and had virtually no help from my
husband in any area of responsibility. I was emotionally distraught much of the time because I felt I was not providing
the material or emotional environment that my child deserved, and because of the constant pressures of physical and
emotional abuse. The thought of bringing another child into that environment was more than I could bear. I knew I could
not add the work of caring for another child to my burden, it would have broken me. Although I had enjoyed my first
child as a baby and had been more delighted than burdened with night feedings and constant *B43 care, I did not want to
think about what kind of a person I would become with the added demands on me. I was also afraid of physical harm to
myself and the developing fetus, and fear that I could become a welfare mother unable to support my family. With no
joy in my heart but with the knowledge that I was certainly making the right choice I had an abortion.
Two years later I found the strength to divorce my husband and am now living a much better life with my one son in all
regards. We are self-sufficient and stable. I am even able to plan for his education. I don't know what would have
happened in our lives had I not been able to obtain a legal, and therefore affordable, abortion. If the right to safe, legal
abortion is denied it is not denied to those who can afford to go out of the country or to pay an exorbitant fee for a D &
C to a doctor willing to act illegally. It is only denied to those who are least able to bear additional financial and emotional burdens. They must seek unsafe, degrading abortions or risk losing their self-sufficiency and direction in life
which also robs their living children of the opportunity to grow up and benefit from the other rights and opportunities
available to americans which allow most of us to lead useful, productive, satisfying lives.
***
LETTER-181
As you are all well aware, it is the interpretation of the law, not the law itself, that bestows its bite or its blessing. Abortion is the same. For each woman who has had an abortion, there is a *B44 different interpretation of the experience, ranging from relief to sorrow, and sometimes a woman's feelings include the entire spectrum at once.
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This is why, to me, abortion means ambivalence.

I have had two abortions. The first brought me a sense of relief after I became pregnant near the end of a relationship,
and knew there was no future with that man. There was nothing about my situation at the time that seemed healthy for a
child to be born into. It was not an easy decision, but I was grateful for the fact that my own struggle was exactly that my own struggle - and that I did not also have to endure the persecution of taking an action that was illegal. However, I
must say, if it were illegal at the time, I would have made the same choice.
The second time I had an abortion I had been married eight months. My husband and I had decided before we were married that we wanted children, but my unplanned pregnancy seemed like a prison sentence to him. He wanted me to have
an abortion. I did not want an abortion, but I decided to have one because I felt that having a child at that time would
have driven a wedge between us. I was in deep emotional and spiritual pain over this decision because I loved my husband dearly and I loved the child inside me. However, it was my decision at the time to choose to nurture our relationship
until the right time to have children.
I realize now there is no right time. I was divorced last year after waiting eight years for the right time to come. Sometimes I feel the depth of regret about my abortion, wondering about that child, *B45 loving that child. Sometimes,
however, I feel that I must have known, intuitively, that it was better not to have children with this man. The years with
my husband revealed he had a violent streak that was unpredictable and frightening. When we decided to divorce he said
he realized he was afraid of having children because he didn't want to inflict his turmoil on them.
To me, abortion means ambivalence. Life means ambivalence. Life does not fit into neat and permanent packages. The
choice to have an abortion should and will always remain one of the most difficult decisions a woman could make. But
because it is fraught with conflict does not mean it should be taken out of her own personal realm of choice.
I have made decisions which only I am responsible for making. The wisdom or foolishness of past decisions becomes
clearer with age. I have not permanently judged either of my decisions as wise or foolish. Some days one feeling prevails, some days another. What persists is that I made the choices and I am responsible for those choices, and responsible
for my feelings about those choices. Making a choice and living with it is the weight of life that we all must learn to bear.
Learning to bear this weight, and to learn from our mistakes, is the passage into adulthood which is fundamental to a
healthy society. Otherwise, citizens are mindless, without accountability.
A friend of mine who is a loving father and a Fundamentalist Christian feels that abortion is murder. I agree with him.
Where we differ is that I admit that *B46 sometimes the taking of life is necessary. Not right. But sometimes necessary.
I believe a fetus is human and has a spiritual identity. And I believe that the weight of life that we must learn to bear as
adults sometimes includes the taking of life. It is the conscience or lack of conscience with which the taking of life is
committed that has consequences for our society. The arguments about euthanasia, our guilt over Viet Nam, - these are
extensions of our ambivalence about the taking of life. And we should never take it away easily. But still we know that
sometimes the taking of life is necessary. In euthanasia, it is sometimes necessary to preserve the dignity and the quality
of the life that has been lived; in abortion, it is sometimes necessary to prevent the birth of a life that would be lived
without quality, because the mother knows that she does not have the spiritual, emotional or material resources to
provide to that child at that time. To dictate that in such an instance she should give birth and give the child up for adoption is to sentence the mother to another cruelty. She should be able to decide for herself if she can bear or should bear
the weight of that very private burden.
Instead of legislating to restrict people from the weight of personal decisions, shouldn't we rather encourage a society
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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where people understand the complexity of life, and bear the responsibility for their choices? Perhaps we want to legislate against abortion because we are afraid of bearing the weight of our decisions. Perhaps it is because we are afraid of
death.
*B47 I pray that you all, in your hearts, choose to listen to the stories of women of conscience, like me, who believe that
life is sacred AND that the difficult decision to have an abortion or to give birth must rest with individual women.
***
LETTER-187
I happily write this letter in support of every person's right to choose when they will have their children.
I have faced several such decisions in my life.
When I was nineteen I became pregnant with my first child. I never thought of doing anything other than having the
baby. The baby's father, now my husband, first thought of abortion but that quickly gave way to acceptance and joy at the
arrival of our son.
In the past 2 1/2 years since his birth, we have understood what it is to struggle. Neither of us have college degrees and
we both feel very strongly about not using the welfare system. We have had to do the best we can for ourselves and our
son. What we have had is love.
1 1/2 years ago I became pregnant again. Initially we were glad as we recognized the sacredness of life. But in time and
through discussion I realized I was not ready to be a mother of two. I also felt my 13 month old son deserved my full attention and demanded it. At this point we fully understood the realities and stresses of parenting. The financial responsibilities create very high levels of stress and even our love for each other and our son didn't make it any better. After a
heart wrenching decision we chose abortion. *B48 Not out of convenience or hate but out of love for the unborn child we
knew we were unprepared to take proper care of.
I did not enjoy my abortion. I don't see how anyone could. I do not plan to have another. It was one of the most physically painful experiences of my life but I feel deep in my heart I made the right choice for the baby and for myself and my
family.
I think we as women and/or mothers do have the right and the insight to know what is best for our unborn babies and for
ourselves. Let's remember how we all speak of women's intuition.
At my abortion experience there were others who chose the same place and day to release their babies. Almost all were
obviously under 18 and most were with their mothers. I am glad to know our young women have a safe choice. They
have the choice to wait until they feel they are ready to be good mothers and able to provide the kind of security necessary for a child to grow up healthy. They have a choice to live out their dreams, even though they've made a mistake.
Would we really send them back to the enslavement of unwanted pregnancy, financial hardship and shattered dreams?
Don't we want more for their children than lives on welfare, in poverty. Don't we want all of our children to have every
opportunity for education instead of forced enslavement to a welfare system that cannot support human life? I think anyone who thinks that with a little effort these women can remove the ball and chain of poverty isn't living in the real
world.
I was lucky enough to have the love and support of my man standing by me, but how many teenagers have that? I realize
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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*B49 teenage pregnancies are only a portion of the abortions that happen these days, but teenage abortions are what is
relevant to my experience.
I recently became pregnant again and I am now choosing to have our second child. The stresses are all still there but I
feel like the last 4 years of my life have matured me enough to handle them.
I have no college degree. I have no way, on my own, of making enough money for my children and I to survive. I understand these realities the realities the young women of this country face at the thought of illegalizing abortion.
If we want our country to have on coming generations of children that are bright, healthy and capable we must allow women and men the right to choose when they will become parents and not force them unnecessarily into lives of poverty
and shattered dreams. We owe our children that much at least.
I would like to thank all of you there at NARAL for all you are doing to speak out for the women and unborn children of
this country.
Keep up the good work!
***
LETTER-209
I had an illegal abortion in 1966. My parents went with me. We were lucky. The person who performed the procedure
was competent and considerate. My father was a 4-year WWII vet. stationed in North Africa. He told me a few years ago
he was never more afraid in his life than when we went to New Jersey for that illegal abortion.
I was 19, attending a city college, and unprepared to marry, to be a mother, to *B50 continue with the pregnancy. The
fear, isolation and horror my whole family experienced should not be repeated for my children or their friends. The decision about what to do in a crisis pregnancy belongs to the woman involved and her conscience. It does not take a sperm
+ ova to create new life - it takes a sperm, ova and a woman's uterus. If that woman does not want to support that growth
for whatever reason, she is the one who should decide what to do about it.
I now work as a sexuality educator and birth control advocate. If people want to prevent abortions, let them get serious
about contraception, about b.c. options, research etc. The facism involved in the anti choice movement enrages me. I will
testify, appear in public, use my name, do whatever to keep up the struggle for women's right to choose.
***
LETTER-212
My name is .... In April of 1988, I obtained a legal abortion. I was twenty years old + faced with an unplanned pregnancy. I already have two sons that came along in my young life. Like most single parents, I live on Public Aid. I also
live in one of the poorest regions of Illinois. I was very relieved that there was a safe + legal option to resolve my problem. I believe all women should have reproductive rights for their own bodies.
****
LETTER-216
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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One morning late last fall, I listened in disbelief to the news that the Attorney General had asked the Supreme Court to
*B51 review a case that might overturn Roe vs Wade. I cried - cried at the thought of so many women suffering so much
if this threat really came to pass. The tears were quickly followed by anger and fear. The anger and fear have not diminished.
I feel qualified to comment on this possible reversal and free to be outraged. In February, 1982, I had an abortion. It is a
decision I have never regretted. I thanked God then and still for my right to have had a choice seven years ago.
In 1982, I was 38 years old, married with two children. We were and are still a typical suburban family - as far as the
outside world can see. But life was not ordinary for us in 1982. I was (I am) chemically addicted to the drug alcohol. Beginning in October, 1981 I made my first feeble attempts at recovery from alcoholism. Having finally accepted the fact
that I needed help with a problem that was making life a living hell, I wandered in and out of AA meetings, listening but
not hearing, trying but failing - time after time. The months passed. I became more and more fearful that I wasn't capable
of recovery - I was going to die from a disease - the progression of which only I could halt. But I couldn't stop drinking
for any substantial length of time. For some reason, I kept attending AA meetings-they provided the only hope.
In the midst of this rollercoaster ride of addiction - in February, 1982, I realized I could be pregnant. I called a doctor
who quickly verified the pregnancy with a blood test. I was frantic, frightened, drained physically, emotionally, spiritually from my alcoholism. I could not manage my own *B52 life. The prospect of a baby was overwhelming! There are
those, no doubt who might think, she's pregnant...now she'll see it's time to pull herself together! And they would know
nothing of the forces of addiction! I chose to have an abortion. Now much is known about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. In
1982, this was not a topic of discussion. My doctor, who knew I had a drinking problem did not mention it. He assured
himself that an abortion was what my husband and I wanted, and it was performed. It had been 6 days since I called him.
I was 4 weeks pregnant. The fact that legal abortion was available meant it could be performed early - which meant more
safely and certainly with less emotional trauma involved.
I believe my decision was the right one at the time - for me - for my family.
I continued efforts toward recovery, and with the help and support of AA, I have not had a drink since April 13, 1982.
It makes me furious that women in similar situations might soon not have the choice that was given me. Any woman who
wants to terminate a pregnancy must have good reasons - for her. Who is to judge anyone else's emotional or physical
capabilities for bearing and caring for another life. No one but the woman herself.
I am resentful that our right of choice has become a political football-politicians conveniently switching their stand on
the issue according to the loudest voices. First for it, then against it. I wonder - how do they really feel? There are so
many tragic circumstances when abortion is so obviously in order - how can *B53 they be against it and have any sense
of humanity?
I am resentful, too, that many of the groups so opposed to abortion also oppose efforts to educate the public, especially
the young, about birth control. And, will I someday be told that I can no longer use an IUD because it doesn't necessarily
prevent conception - only the egg's implantation in the uterus? How far could the government take this issue?
I thank all those who are fighting once again for our right of choice. I hope the Supreme Court hears our voices. We
won't be silent - ever.
***
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LETTER-245
Shortly after my husband and I were married, I suffered a nearly fatal bout with a rare and devastating disease, GuillainBarret syndrome. During a slow recovery, we conceived our first child. Almost immediately I was back in the hospital
with a recurrence of the most serious symptoms. As my condition rapidly deteriorated, the physicians attending me decided that an abortion would be necessary to save my life. After consultations with highly respected specialists in the
fields of neurology, obstetrics, and internal medicine, the decision was made to do the abortion in the first class hospital
where I was a patient. Immediately my condition improved so that I could convalesce over a period of many months.
Later, my husband and I were blessed with four planned children. They are all grown and all are active in their respective
professions: medicine, medical research, ecology, and English teaching at the college level.
*B54 Without the abortion, which I never regretted, my husband and I would not be celebrating forty years of happy
marriage, and the country would have lost four outstanding professional men and women, our children.
THE CHOICE OF REPRODUCTION MUST BELONG TO THE WOMAN, AND NOT TO THE POLITICIANS.
ONLY THE WOMAN AND HER DOCTOR CAN MAKE THE BEST DECISION.
***
LETTER-247
I am writing in response to your letters of January 19 and February 16, 1989 calling for individuals to write of their own
experiences with abortion for possible inclusion in a friend-of-the-Court brief in the case of Webster v. Reproductive
Health Services. I can think of no more worthwhile way to spend my time than to provide you with such a letter. I only
hope that it will reach you in time to be considered for inclusion. I would be honored to participate in this historic case of
such great importance to women, and indeed, to all people in this country.
I have personally had an abortion. It was pre-Roe v. Wade in 1970 at the ... Medical Center. The law in ... at the time
stated that the only allowable circumstances in which a woman might have a legal abortion were in cases of rape or incest, or when carrying the pregnancy to term would be dangerous to the life or health of the mother.
I was twenty-five years old at the time, divorced with two small children, ages five and seven, and a senior in college. I
had for two years been living with a man with whom I was in love, but were uncertain as *B55 to future plans in terms of
marriage. I had at that point made significant progress in turning my life around after an inappropriate and disasterous
teenage marriage. As mentioned above, I was putting myself through college with the help of my family, raising my children as a single parent with very little emotional or financial support from my extremely immature ex-husband; I was
making grades good enough to consistently keep me on the dean's honor roll and contemplating going to graduate school.
When I became pregnant I was terrified at the prospect of bringing another child into the world, knowing that I was
already strained to the limit, both financially and emotionally with the two children I had. I felt certain that bearing this
child would be a disaster for me, my educational plans, my children and possibly for the relationship with the father.
After an incredible amount of soul-searching, discussions with the father and with doctors and counselors at the ... Medical Center, I decided to have an abortion. I was lucky in that the medical personnel at the Med Center were incredibly
enlightened in that they chose to interpret the existing ... statute as including the mental health and emotional well-being of the mother. Part of the law required that the woman be seen by two physicians who would sign an affidavit allowing the woman to have the abortion. The Med Center had set up a procedure wherein the two required physicians were
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picked from a group of sympathetic psychiatrists, whose job it became to determine that the women in question were
healthy enough to withstand the stress of the abortion, rather than *B56 having to prove that they were too unhealthy
to bear a child. I was most impressed with the reasonableness, genuine concern and enlightenment that prevailed.
I should say that I was resolute enough in my decision that I would have proceeded with the abortion, even if I had not
been so fortunate to find myself in the hands of such caring people. I might have followed in the footsteps of my sisterin-law who some years earlier had gone to Juarez, Mexico for an abortion, wherein she suffered a brutal and unsanitary
abortion, from which it took her many months to recover physically, and from which I don't think she ever recovered
emotionally.
I also want to say that I got good follow-up care after the procedure, a D & C; again, both physically and emotionally.
(The doctors who had signed for me to have the abortion warned me that I might experience post-abortion depression,
and in fact, I did.) I heeded their advice and sought support from a mental health professional. I mention this to emphasize that there is nothing about abortion which is taken lightly by the women who choose to have them. The decision to
have an abortion is at best the least of several bad scenarios; the procedure itself, although safe and fairly simple (now) is
still unpleasant, and it is inevitable that there will be post-abortion discomfort. After all, the woman has suffered a loss
and grieves for that loss, no matter how sensible the decision. The charge made so frequently by anti-choice folks that
women who choose abortion do so carelessly and often for the sake of convenience are out of touch with reality and operate at a level where they see things only in terms *B57 of black and white and their own stilted version of morality,
with no understanding that most human behavior takes place in the grey areas.
I have never been sorry I made the decision that I did; I know it was the right one for me at the time. My life, and the
lives of my children, would have been significantly different and more difficult had I been forced to bear that child. I am
glad that I had the courage to go through with what needed to be done, and I am very glad that my circumstances were
such that I was supported in my decision and given excellent health care.
I should also mention that I did go on to graduate school, that I married the father, raised my children to adulthood, and
have been a productive and politically-active member of society. (I did, in fact, lobby for the National Organization of
Women in the ... Legislature in 1986 and was dismayed to find that it was necessary to spend the better part of my time
in that position fighting the anti-choice forces.)
I know, because of my personal experiences, that this right of ours, to choose whether or not to carry a child to term, is
so basic and fundamental, that it is among the most crucial issues of our time, and that the decision of the Supreme Court
in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services will have an immense impact on our society. After all, if we as women, are
denied the right to control our own bodies by the government under which we live, have we any rights at all?
Thank you for the opportunity to be a small part of this historic event. I, along with millions of other enlightened Americans, a growing majority, as you know, *B58 await the results of this case with the greatest anticipation. Keep us the
good fight; my thoughts and prayers are with you!
***
LETTER-259
I've had two first-trimester abortions, in 1979 and 1980. I was barely 20 and 21 years of age, respectively.
I became pregnant the first time two months after being diagnosed as thyroid deficient. Some symptoms of hypothyroid-
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ism are menstrual irregularity and sterility. I had practiced no birth control for years before this, and didn't believe that
thyroid supplements would REALLY make me fertile; after two clockwork menstrual cycles, I conceived. I didn't believe I was pregnant, I thought it was stress. I was nauseous, sure, but ALL DAY LONG and not enough to vomit. Plus,
the local clinic gave me a negative test. The second one came back positive.
Here are the circumstances surrounding my first pregnancy: I was a dishwasher in a little health food cafe, making less
than minimum wage as a part-time worker; so was the father. Between us we took home maybe $90 a week. If we hadn't
received free meals from the restaurant, we would have gone hungry. We had been living together about a month. I had a
car: it was broken. I was 20, he was 24.
I was utterly unprepared, emotionally or financially, for the responsibility of raising a child. No question: I would have
HAD to go on welfare. There would have been no way I could have continued working. I over-reacted punitively when
my DOG misbehaved; I was afraid I would abuse *B59 a child. Childrearing is a lifetime commitment; I wasn't secure
enough in my relationship with the father to count on his support through that. I wouldn't marry him out of necessity,
though he claimed to be willing to marry if that was what I wanted. His stand was he found the idea of fatherhood attractive, but he would ultimately respect and support my decision, because he felt the decision was mine to make.
Adoption was never an alternative for me. Personally, I feel absolutely emotionally incapable of carrying to term and
then giving up the child. If I was going to go through all that, I may as well just keep it. Also, I would have to live with
the thought that s/he might show up on my doorstep 20 years later. I've known women who have given children up for
adoption and it is a hell that haunts them forever.
So the abortion was scheduled. We pawned the father's guitar and borrowed some money from my mother. She flew out
from L.A. to offer moral support. She was very supportive throughout the procedure and afterward.
The clinic was a good one. I was pre-counseled and told what to expect during the procedure, and emotional after-effects
(i.e., post-partum blues). I remember I cried a little during the abortion--big, fat, quiet tears rolling back into my ear-because I felt that I had failed the father (talk about social conditioning!).
Primarily, though, I felt RELIEVED. I was glad when it was over, and I was glad I didn't get stuck in the welfare system.
I might have been stuck in a lousy marriage *B60 with kids that I didn't want. No one wins in that situation.
I beat myself up pretty bad over getting pregnant. I should have been on birth control. I felt that having this sort of
accident was the worst form of irresponsibility. Plus, there were other people effected; the father, our families.
Having an abortion was, to me, a responsible way of handling what I felt to be an irresponsible mistake. All the alternatives had been rolled around and considered for a long time. Granted, a lot of it was before the fact: What would I do if I
got pregnant? Pregnancy to me was something I feared, but felt would not happened to me.
The second abortion occurred a year later, shortly after the relationship mentioned above dissolve. I'd quit taking the
thyroid supplements, and figured I'd been off them long enough to be sterile again, and went off birth control pills. I became involved in a brief and futile relationship with an old boyfriend, and wound up pregnant. By the time I found out,
he was gone. I was an emotional wreck over the failure of the previous relationship, barely able to take care of myself.
I was sad the first time; this time, I was angry. I was angry with myself about being so stupid as to make this mistake a
second time, and have to go through it again. Fool me once, shame on you--fool me twice, shame on me. I was pretty
much alone for this one; my mother was again supportive. Fortunately, this time I had insurance, so I scheduled a tubal
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ligation along with the abortion. This might sound a bit extreme...but even now, eight years *B61 later, I feel I made the
right decision, all the way around.
One thing I want to make clear: It seems that some anti-choice people think in the general terms that women who have
abortions view them as some form of laissez-faire, after-the-fact birth control. Nothing could be farther from the truth,
and anyone who thinks abortion is an easy decision is sadly mistaken. It is a difficult decision, and often a secret one.
Having the LEGAL CHOICE to make that decision is VITAL, however; I know I would have pursued illegal abortions if
I'd had to. The information was readily available, and absolutely frightening; potentially poisonous herbal remedies (for
example, large quantities of pennyroyal); people who would perform kitchen-table abortions with a turkey baster and a
piece of rubber hosing; such extreme treatments as douching with household cleansers or lye-based drain opener. This
appalling information is not pulled from books or newspapers; people I've known have volunteered these alternatives.
I am grateful to have been able to legally make the choice to have an abortion. I ultimately control my own body, one
way or another, legally or illegally.
We must never go back to the days of back-alley, coat hanger abortions. Women should not have to pay the ultimate
price of giving up their lives because of unwanted pregnancies.
****
LETTER-261
I had an abortion in England during my Junior Year Abroad. I was alone, scared, *B62 and very unhappy that I could not
carry the pregnancy to term. I wanted to. I love children - I know I could be a responsible parent. I couldn't carry the
pregnancy to term because I had no one - no one - to help me. No money, my education was not complete, my boyfriend
was sleeping with someone else... I was so miserable. I knew I was pregnant, even though I had two negative pregnancy
tests. The third was positive. I knew I wanted to have an abortion. I consider having an abortion an important decision we are, after all, talking about a potential life. But deciding to carry the pregnancy to term is a much bigger decision - we
are, after all, talking about a child, a person with needs, an undisputedly living human being.
In order to have an abortion, I had to get two doctors say that my mental health was in jeopardy. I was humiliated. They
asked me where my boyfriend was. It is impossible to get pregnant without a boyfriend. The place I had the abortion
was sterile, ugly. I was put under general anaesthesia, which made me very sick. I was all alone, and I kept thinking - I
wish I was home, at my local Planned Parenthood.
I didn't feel proud of my decision-my pride came later. At the time I was mad that I didn't live in a world that loves
children - if there was free medical care, affordable childcare, acceptance of nontraditional families - I would have
wanted that pregnancy. My mother was antiabortion (now she is pro-choice) so I had some guilt about that - disappointing her.
It hurt physically - what a joke, the idea that women have abortions for convenience. We have abortions because we
have unintended pregnancies, because our *B63 society has not created effective birth control. I was using a diaphragm
when I got pregnant.
I share this story in hopes it will help other women. I said I wasn't proud at the time. Now I am. I made a responsible,
loving decision. It would have selfish to give birth then. I would never have given it away.
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I loved being pregnant. I wasn't sick, but I felt different. The fetus, my fetus; however, was not a living human being. My
pregnancy was mine, my abortion was mine, and my body was and is mine. Thank you for sharing my story with the Supreme Court.
***
LETTER-267
One day in the early 70s, I picked up a copy of MS Magazine. In that issue was a list of women's names who had had illegal abortions. With tears streaming down my face, I read each one those names over and over and realized that I was
not alone in the world. In memory of those women who published their names so many years ago, I am telling my own
story of what it was like when an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy put women outside the law.
I was the first person in a family of 13 children to graduate from high school. I was just past my 20th birthday, I had a
good job, I thought I was in love, I was young and pretty. Suddenly, I felt as though all the good parts of my life was
coming apart at the seams, because I was pregnant.
Stunned, confused and frightened, I told the man I was involved with of my situation. There was never any question of
marriage, but I heard the word that I had *B64 only heard whispered about - abortion. I became even more frightened,
for my experience with abortion was only horror stories of women who died on kitchen tables with knitting needles and
coat hangers as surgical instruments.
However, when I voiced these fears, I was told that I shouldn't be afraid. Don't worry. There is a guy in ..., Ohio who is
safe. All the mob guys take their girlfriends there. Somehow that made sense to me, after all abortion was a crime, so
why shouldn't criminals know the best place to go?
And so, I found myself in a big automobile heading towards an unknown fate in .... I sat between these two men who
talked of sports and gambling, one was the man I thought myself in love with, the other was a convicted murderer, the
one who knew the man in ....
We arrived at dusk and pulled into an alley behind a very old house in a dark part of town. I left the car and walked alone
into a small room with a table. I remember a black man with frizzy white hair, I remember seeing an old calendar with
1937 on it, and I remember nothing else. It is gone from my conscious memory, buried deep in my subconscious where I
can't get to it. Somehow the trip back to Pittsburgh was made, and I remember only that the man had said, You will
probably have some pain, but you'll be okay.
I waited, afraid of what was going to happen, and then most the pain began. Hour after hour of the most intense pain I
have ever experienced. Then the bleeding began, a hemorrhage so bad the memory of it still frightens me. The hours in
the bedroom of my apartment, my roommate begging me to *B65 call a doctor, go to the hospital, call my mother, do
something are still with me. But, I did nothing, I was afraid to do anything, because I was convinced that if I told what I
had done, I would go to jail. I was outside the law, and there was no help for me.
Finally, the pain stopped and eventually the bleeding stopped, too. I returned to work, and within a few weeks realized I
was still not well. My body was filled with infection. Still frightened about doing something illegal, I went to a doctor
and told him that I was sick but did not tell him why. To my shame, he tested me for venereal disease. When those tests
came back negative the doctor arranged for me to got to the hospital for a D & C the following week. He warned me that
if I had any more heavy bleeding, that I must go to the hospital immediately because I was very anemic from losing so
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much blood.
Immediately after that visit, I did begin to hemorrhage again, and woke up in ... Hospital with blood transfusions and IV,
and the doctor bending over my bed with tears in his eyes, saying Why didn't you tell me you had an abortion? I
looked back and answered very truthfully, Because I thought you would put me in jail. Eventually I healed, went back
to work, went on with my life, but kept the memory of my abortion buried in a dark an secret place.
That's my story. Even after all these years, tears spring to my eyes when I think of how frightened I was, how young and
desperate and how vulnerable.
I have spent a great deal of my life and my energy dedicated to keeping abortion safe and legal for women. My own
memory of *B66 the way it was in the dark days of back alleys, criminals, and illegal abortions have convinced me that
to take away a woman's right to choose is putting women right back in that very same alley in ..., Ohio where I came very
close to losing my life.
***
LETTER-270
I am writing to express my concern that a women's right to choose her own life is being threatened.
I am a 32 year old woman who has made the conscious choice to not have children. The primary reason behind my
choice is the knowledge that there are too many people in this world - and that this fact is at the root of all the ills now
facing humankind. I could not, with conscience, bring into this world another hungry mouth that would further strain the
limited resources of this planet.
At the age of 28 I had my tubes tied. It took me 6 years from the time I first made that decision to the time of its realization. The reason it took so long is because I could not find a doctor who could accept that because I was single, and so
young I could know my own mind.
During that time I had several unwanted pregnancies. Not because of promiscuity, or carelessness - but because of the
lack of the effectiveness of the birth control methods available to me. I refused to tamper with my body by using the pill
- it is still unknown what all the long term risks are. I became pregnant while using an IUD - (that puts me in a high statistic group.) I also became pregnant, twice, while using the diaphragm method. I know that I never should have been fitted for *B67 one in the first place - my body shape and size makes it impossible for my cervix to be adequetly covered
and hence I cannot be effectively protected with one. Because of my convictions I could not and would not allow these
pregnancies to come to term. They were terminated through legal abortion. I do not regret my choices.
I have always been proud to be a citizen of a country that safeguards an individuals right to make personal choices in
their life. I have friends who live in Mexico, and the physical suffering and humiliation they were subjected to in carrying out their convictions is appaling. In countries where abortion is illegal, the abortions are not stopped, but a womans
health is threatened, both physically and emotionally. If we allow this to happen in our country there will be butcher
shops. A woman should not be forced by law to be subjected to such ill treatment.
I do not believe in using abortion as a method of birth control. But I can attest to the reality that a woman can become
pregnant while doing everything in her means to prevent it. If abortion had been illegal, I would have gone the illegal
route, and I would have been forced to.
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I chose a permanent birth control. Not all women are willing to make that sacrifice. No woman should be forced to be a
mother. Motherhood should be a choice, consciously taken when the woman is ready and willing to take on the immense
responsibility of raising a child - at the time when she can give her child love and emotional support. The government
should not be given the right to make that choice for her.
***
*B68 LETTER-278
I became pregnant when I was 19 years old. I was troubled and concerned, but not confused and manipulated, as antichoice activists would like to describe me. I knew what I wanted to do. I chose an abortion.
I write now not because my experience was particularly grim--it wasn't, and that's the point. I was able to get a safe, legal
abortion, unlike my maternal great-grandmother who aborted herself with a knitting needle. I got care, I got counselling,
and I got advice from clinic staff. My great-grandmother got none of these. Perhaps the worst part of her experience--and
the most trenchant lesson--is the silence surrounding it. My mother whispered the story to me late one night, still afraid
(?) that the words would haunt.
This is the message I most wish to convey: We cannot be silent. I am sympathetic with those who encourage conscientious choice, whether the choice is for or against an abortion. I am intolerant of those who would keep abortion--and they
would be keeping abortion--a silent matter while many of them scream for capital punishment.
There is an ironic twist (at least one) in all of this. I became pregnant while I was a student at DePauw University--Vice
President J. Danforth Quayle's alma mater and my own. It is ironic that I write now to contest the policies of a man who-according to DePauw tradition--is supposed to share a certain moral sense with me. I see now, as I began to see then,
when I was 19 and pregnant, what the conditions of *B69 that moral sense are for J. Danforth Quayle and so many others
like him.
I contest those conditions proudly.
***
LETTER-286
I am writing this letter because of my beliefs and experiences with the reproductive issue. If a woman's choice for or
against abortion is to be decided in a court of law, then they need to understand what makes a woman face these choices.
My name is Anna, and I am 24 years old. I have a high school education and two years of college, uncompleted. I come
from a divorced family and I have had five stepfathers. However, it was my mother who always worked and supported
by sister and me.
At 17 years old, I became pregnant. I made my choice alone out of confusion and shame. I chose to give my baby up for
adoption. I went through an adoption agency in Atlanta, who sent a representative to South Carolina where I lived at the
time. She took me back to Atlanta, where I was completely isolated from everyone I knew. To sum up those long months,
or to make anyone understand the loneliness, the exaggerations they told me, as well as the things they never told me
would be impossible without living through it. I can only tell you that I could never go through it again and live.
What kept me going was the belief in what I was doing was right. But sometimes it's not enough when you worry wheth-
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er or not your child is healthy and happy. It doesn't stop that hollow feeling in your *B70 womb, or the feeling of being
used and discarded like an incubator.
I hope that I'm not being misunderstood, I am not bitter. It was the right choice at the time. However, when I faced the
same situation earlier this year, I did not chose adoption.
There was alot of soul-searching and memories from the adoption this time. I considered having the baby, but the reality
of my financial situation made it impossible. The nightmares of my own childhood haunted me. I could never put my
child through that. So, when the technician at the hospital told me the fetus had a very irregular heartbeat, I knew my
choice. A woman in my situation can't afford hospital care, how could I support a child with special medical needs? It is
also impossible to have someone adopt a baby that is not healthy. I don't think the court really understands some of these
cruel truths.
In summary, I would like to say this: If Roe vs. Wade is going to be overturned, then there is going to have to be more
Federal aid to pregnant women, a watchdog committee on adoption agencies, and even more medicaid or socialized birth
facilities. However, I don't believe that those who would overturn Roe vs. Wade have made any considerations to this effect. If they did, I feel they would be more concerned for the children who live now without homes, food or in need of
medical care. This holy crusade is a farce without attending to those children first.
Please feel free to use any part of this letter in your prepared brief. I have no objections. Thank you for reading my letter,
and standing up for my rights.
*B71 ***
LETTER-294
I am 70 years old, married for 49 years, mother of four, grandmother of eight; and I have had three abortions, all before
Roe v. Wade.
I was reared by my single mother, a feminist and Margaret Sanger advocate, who informed me about birth control so
early in my life that I cannot remember just when it was. I used a diaphragm from the age of seventeen until menopause.
My husband and I planned each of our four children with great deliberation. I was disappointed when I had a miscarriage, and the space between two sons became three years instead of two as planned. All this is by way of explaining that
I never considered abortion as a desireable method of birth control. But...on three occasions I gambled and lost by neglecting to use my accustomed contraceptive.
In 1937 I was in college and in love with a ... student, an affair approved by our respective parents (in fact, his physician
father had fitted me with a diaphragm) but marriage was never contemplated. So, when I became pregnant, abortion was
the only consideration. My mother, a social worker, knew of a retired woman physician who performed abortions in her
home. My boyfriend and I went there together one afternoon. The procedure took place in an upstairs surgery,
quickly and with little pain. The doctor told me I would abort in about a week. Her procedure did not include a curettement. I paid $15.00 to this doctor who did abortions on principle, not for money. I walked out of her house with my *B72
friend, much relieved. We would go on with our student lives. I aborted the fetus in a week, with little warning, in a gasstation restroom. I recall THIS as the most disturbing and humiliating part of the experience.
In 1940 I married my present husband, a second marriage for each of us. We returned from a trip to Mexico, and I was
pregnant. Once again I had neglected to use birth control. I went to the same woman physician who had performed my
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abortion three years earlier, and went through the same procedure for the same price. I remember feeling embarrassed for
my negligence. I knew she was a firm believer in birth control, and felt intelligent young women need not repeat their
mistakes. However, this time I did not abort in a week. I began to feel sick, developed a fever, and one night found myself crawling on my hands and knees to the bathroom, only half aware. My husband was frantic. We had come to live in
the small town where he was reared, where his father was a minister and president of the Board of Education, and where
he now taught school. He knew of no physician who would admit me to a hospital. But my sister-in-law had heard of a
doctor who had performed abortions, and had lost but regained his licence. I don't remember how we found him, but he
was able to admit me to the community hospital. He performed a proper curettement. I was in the hospital two days.
There was no question of illegality because this physician was not the one responsible for the abortive abortion. He
could clean up someone else's mess, and save my life, but he could not legally do a proper abortion in the first *B73
place. I do not recall the doctor or hospital fees, but for a teacher making less than $1,400 a year, I know it was a burden.
All this pain, humiliation, expense and family distress would have been unnecessary if abortion had been legal. In a small
town anonymity is rare, and gossip is recreation. And breaking the law is no recommendation for a teacher and minister's son. However, my husband and I were not to face such stress again until four children and 16 years later.
In 1942 we had a daughter, the first of four planned children. Her brother was born in 1944. My husband was drafted six
months before the end of WWII. That, plus its aftermath, changed our lives and family plans. I went to work as a teacher.
My husband went to graduate school and earned a doctorate in psychology. I returned to fulltime homemaker, and we
had another son in 1950. We planned to have our fourth and last child in 1952, but I started to miscarry, and had a D&C
on doctor's advice; a simple uncomplicated procedure (as an abortion can be). Our third son was born in 1953. We now
had the children we wanted, loved, and could afford to care for emotionally, psychologically, and financially.
In late 1955, I was pregnant again. Although my husband was quite willing to have another child, I was not. I had decided on the size of my family; I knew what I could cope with without stress, I was almost 37 years old, and I was happily involved with my teenagers and the younger children. I felt our income was adequate to provide a good present and
future for all of us. And I, like many others, (perhaps a little late!) was beginning to *B74 be concerned about the environment and world population. I wanted an abortion. But the political atmosphere of the fifties was different from the
thirties. There were crackdowns on suspected abortion rings. Doctors and hospitals were being surveilled. Physicians
were loathe to refer even if they were your friends and knew someone who performed a clean abortion. Eventually,
through an extended grapevine...a friend who had a friend who knew a friend who had a friend...I was given a telephone number. Already I felt uneasy, frightened, about to break the law; worried for my children, my husband, myself.
I phoned the number I had been given. It was a doctor's office. I said a friend had referred me, and I would like an appointment. I was given an address on the south side of ... the Negro (we didn't say black in those days) ghetto where I
had once been a teacher. I was told to come in the evening, and alone. It was an ordinary doctor's office, full of patients,
men and women, black and white. The receptionist asked me to fill out a history. I was shown to an examination room. A
nurse took my blood pressure and temperature, and Dr. ... came in. He was friendly and jolly, and told me he was chief of
staff at a southside hospital. His fee was $75, and I could pay as you go, for his procedure would not be over in one
visit. He gave me an injection (which he named, but I've forgotten) of something that made me feel very warm from head
to toe ... a sort of flush, and then inserted a catheter into the uterus, telling me that in time I would abort. He gave me a
prescription to be filled at the neighborhood pharmacy near *B75 his office. I was to return at the same time in a week. I
went home to be comforted by my concerned family.
It was very uncomfortable wearing the catheter day and night, but not painful. I returned the next week and the next and
the next, alone and at night. No abortion. But on each visit Dr. ... examined me, changed the catheter, talked, sang songs
from operettas, laughed, and assured me that I would eventually abort. Nothing to worry about. It had to work. By this
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time I was spending most of my time in bed, with the catheter draining and me rather weak. From time to time I would
pass clots of blood. One morning I thought I had finally expelled the fetus, but I wasn't sure, because some of the clots
had been pretty large. That night I had a temperature of 104 degrees. My worried husband tried to reach Dr. ... without
success, and decided it was time to take me to the emergency room at [the hospital] where we were members.
I was placed on a gurney to await a doctor. I knew that for a physician to diagnose and treat effectively, I must give him
all pertinent information. I told him I had had an abortion, and as he could see, it hadn't worked too well. That admission
was my mistake. I simply should have said I had miscarried. Now, suddenly, nurses and doctor left the room. They could
not admit me, yet. I was very weak and hot and scared. About 45 minutes later two men in street clothes came in. They
were deputies from the District Attorney's office, and proceeded to question me: who did it, where, when. I refused to answer, and they told me I had committed a criminal offense and could be the second woman to go to *B76 Tehachapi in
California history for this offense unless I cooperated. My husband became furious and went off to call our lawyer. The
deputies continued to alternately threaten and cajol. It wasn't hard for me to be silent; I was very sick. When our attorney
arrived he told me I need not say anything, and told THEM to leave. I was admitted to the hospital.
Very little was left in my uterus, but I was treated and put on IV anti-biotics for four days (during which time I had four
different roommates who had come in for D&C's). My lawyer came every day to confer, for the D.A. was pursuing my
case and I was to be charged with a statutory offense. I said I would never give the doctor's name because, while his
method of abortion had been dangerous for me, he had helped many other women, rich and poor. And, I would be glad to
test the law which I had broken. I was feeling very brave!
For the next two months, men from the D.A.'s office came to the door, phoned, tapped our phone, and pressured both me
and my attorney to give in. I had made one phone call to Dr. ... when I came home from the hospital to tell him what
had happened. He was unperturbed. I was not to worry. Finally, my attorney felt he could not properly advise me, as he
was primarily a civil liberties lawyer, and I was now a criminal case. He retained one of the best criminal attorney's in
[the city] (a man I could never have afforded) in a friendship arrangement, who persuaded me that I must accept the
D.A.'s proposition to be a State's witness. When I took the stand I could plead the Fifth. I felt miserable about protecting myself with the Fifth Amendment. But my attorney said, *B77 they're out to break what they think is a big abortion
ring, and they think it's your man, and they aren't going to let go. So, I went to make a deposition.
The questions I was asked and the innuendos that were made were offensive, racist and sexual: was the fee low in return
for sex?; did he fondle you?; remarks suggesting that my husband was not responsible for the pregnancy; and, of
course, who, what, when and where. I simply could not remember any names or addresses. I knew by then that they
had them anyhow. Eventually I was subpoenaed as a witness in [the case against Dr. ...]. My attorney said the trial was
before a woman judge and in closed chambers. This relieved me, and I'm sure Dr. .... There would be no reporters. My
husband would be protected from publicity which could possibly harm him professionally as a clinical psychologist and
professor. My children would not be embarrassed or stigmatized. I was still uneasy about the whole court procedure and
taking the Fifth, but my attorney said it was very simple; just state my name and address and then refuse to answer further questions on the grounds it would tend to incriminate me. My attorney would not be in the courtroom. I did not need
representation. I was not on trial. I was only a witness. But I was nervous, and shaken when I had to face the defendant
and the catheter, and refused to identify either. I was dismissed. The doctor from [the hospital] (also called as a witness)
met me in the hall before the trial. he said he was terribly sorry that I had to go through all this. He had been a brand
new staff member when I was brought into *B78 Admissions, and he simply was not sure of hospital policy. If only he
had not asked... Policy apparently, was not to ask!
Well, I did not become the ...second woman in California history to go to Tehachapi as threatened. Dr. ... was not con-
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victed (his defense was that he performed no surgery, and only treated me for on ongoing uterine problem, as his records would clearly show!). Only ..., a black newspaper, reported the case and my name. Our home felt secure again. My
husband kept his job and good name. Some years later my daughter chose to have an abortion which was done well
and without trauma, but it still was clandestine, illegal, and expensive. And then came Roe v. Wade. How we cheered,
knowing that her daughter and all the daughters ever after would never have to suffer danger nor indignity when choosing to terminate a pregnancy.
***
LETTER-296
This true story is written to those who have the power to deny women the right to a safe, legal abortion.
In December of 1969 I became pregnant and chose to terminate the pregnancy. At that point in time there existed an underground referral service at the University I attended. I was referred to Detroit, Mich. to a doctor who performed abortions. I was told he did them all of the time and I had nothing to worry about. The abortion was performed in a hotel
room with no anesthetic. The doctor entered my room and demanded $400 before he started.
The abortion was performed on the bed with my legs resting on two chairs. I *B79 experienced an extreme amount of
pain and was told that if I didn't shut-up he would leave and not complete the abortion. After he was finished I layed in
bed for 18 hours unable to get up or eat. When I finally found the strength to get out of bed, I staggered into the bathroom, sat down on the toilet and passed out, only to wake up hours later and find out I had been laying against a steam
hot water pipe and received second degree burns on my shoulder; scares I have to this day. Somehow I made the trip
back home. Twenty four hours later I was in such extreme pain that I called a doctor. I was admitted to the hospital immediately and diagnosed with peritonitis, punctured uterus, colon. My doctor told the person who brought me in that he
did not expect me to live. I spent 16 days in the hospital and had to have major surgery to have the damage done to me
repaired.
I identified the doctor; through police pictures, that performed the abortion. He was apprehended in Detroit with $18,000
but was let go two days later.
There is no doubt in my mind that if Roe v. Wade is overturned that what happened to me twenty years ago will be a
common experience. Women will continue to seek abortions. Leave the current law in tact so that women are not put
through what I had to go through. I deserved more then and all women deserve more now.
***
LETTER-318
I want to add my personal story to the attached letter. I am one who is strongly affected by peoples' life stories, and I'm
hoping my story affects you.
*B80 I was raised in a nice, upper-middle-class home by God-, family- and country-loving parents who didn't drink,
smoke, swear or beat their children. At the age of 19, through an accident and naivete, I got pregnant. Since this was
1967 and I had no access to a safe low-cost abortion, I was faced with a choice. Having neither the money nor the nerve
to face a back-alley abortion, I chose to have the baby. Also, to protect my parents, I married the father, also 19, whom I
had known only a few weeks.
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Since my young husband had no skills and was afraid to get a job because he was violating probation (had stopped reporting when I met him), I took a job as a waitress to support us. After a few months I was laid off for being too pregnant. Welfare paid for the birth of my son.
The day I arrived home from the hospital with the baby, the police arrived and arrested my husband for probation violation, and he went to jail. I don't remember how we made it through those times, but I do recall long hours spent in public
health clinics and welfare offices with a crying baby.
Eventually we found work, and grandparents babysat. I wanted to have another child so my son wouldn't grow up lonely.
My husband and I were both working, and renting a two-bedroom house near the grandparents, so it seemed possible.
With some financial help from my parents, we had just bought a little one-room house in another town when we found I
was pregnant again. The birth of twins, welfare supplementing my husband's meager *B81 income, a one-room house
and shaky beginnings exploded a bad marriage.
When we separated, my husband took my son and left me the year-old twin girls, a lot of debts and bills, and the discovery that I was pregnant again. The pregnancy was identical to the one I'd experienced with the twins, and was unlike my
single-birth pregnancy. That evidence, plus the fact that twins are VERY prevalent in my family, led me to face the
choice of being a single welfare mother of probably five children, or - because it was 1973 and Roe v. Wade had just
been decided - having a safe, legal abortion in my gynecologist's office. For the sake of my children, I chose the latter.
With help from Welfare and my parents, I returned to college, where I earned a Masters of Social Work degree. I got a
job in my field, went off AFDC, and have been a contributing member of society ever since.
But this is not the happy ending to some fairy tale, Mr. Thornburgh. I have three children whose beginnings were the result of a slip-up, youthful carelessness and naivete, and a government that claimed control over my body. I was forced to
choose between crippling poverty and death or maiming. Choosing the former, I subjected the son I was not prepared for
and his subsequent siblings to the almost inevitable broken-home and absent-parent syndrome.
Although their father and I have done our best to raise them while trying to put our own lives together, the kids have not
done well. Each of them has had run-ins with the law, one is on probation until her eighteenth birthday, all are substance*B82 abusers, it appears none will graduate from high school, and, there's a good chance they'll all be chronically unemployed for years to come.
My twin daughters have had four abortions between them. For each, the first was at the age of fourteen. (They did not
know at the time that I'd had an abortion, so don't jump to the conclusion that I'd somehow encouraged this by
modelling it.) I am not proud that they got pregnant, nor are they - far from it! But what a relief that they were not
forced to repeat, perhaps for generations, the cycle of poverty that marred their beginnings. If my daughters and my son
can avoid having children until they are financially and emotionally prepared to do so, doesn't ALL of society benefit?
I got out of poverty with the help of social assistance, my parents and a ton of initiative. But I can tell you unequivocally,
I never could have done so if I had been forced by law to bear another set of twins - or even one more child. I couldn't
have gone to college or gotten a job without college that could have supported more children. My family's fate would
have been years of Welfare, and our society would have been burdened with more unwanted children. I love my children
dearly, but I think they got a bad break, starting their lives in such difficult circumstances.
Do I want you to support equal rights for ALL people, as we're guaranteed in the Constitution? You bet your life - and
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everyone else's! ENCOURAGE THE SUPREME COURT TO UPHOLD ROE V. WADE!

Thank you for listening. I hope you are feeling, too.
*B83 ***
LETTER-351
I have a very specific personal reason for wanting abortion to remain legal-- without access to safe and legal abortion,
my husband and I cannot have a family.
My husband and I are both carriers for a rare and deadly genetic disease called Tay-Sachs. Eighty-five percent of TaySachs carriers are of Eastern European Jewish origin, but 15% are of other backgrounds. Both parents have to be carriers
for a child to be born with the condition. There is absolutely no cure for Tay-Sachs; it is 100% fatal. The age range for a
child born with Tay-Sachs is 2-1/2 to 5 years.
Unfortunately, we have found out all this through bitter first-hand personal experience. I gave birth to a child who was
diagnosed with Tay-Sachs at 11 months. My obstetrician had advised my husband to be tested to find out if he was a carrier when I was six weeks pregnant (prior to that, neither of us knew anything about Tay-Sachs). The doctor told me that
the carrier test would be unreliable on a pregnant woman (not true, as we later found out), and that, anyway, if my husband was not a carrier, we had nothing to worry about. This was absolutely true, assuming the test had been done correctly. Unfortunately, the laboratory that handled my husband's carrier test made a simple mathematical error when analyzing the test results. Because of this mathematical error, we were told that Dave was not a carrier, when indeed he
really was. And although I am a carrier, too, we did not know this because I had not been tested.
*B84 Tay-Sachs is a progressive neurological disease. The child with Tay-Sachs stops normal physical development at
about six months, and then very gradually begins losing all skills gained up until that point. In the case of our daughter
(Abigail), she was never able to sit up, although she did everything normally up until that point. By the age of 18 months
(7 months after she had been diagnosed), Abigail was blind, had devastating seizures (which have to be controlled with
medication), lost the ability to swallow (she now has to be fed through a tube), and lost all motor skills (smiling and
laughing, holding her head up, rolling over--all things she had previously been able to do). She is now 2-1/2 years old
(she will be 3 in June). We had to hospitalize her permanently last March (a year ago); prior to that we had nurses at
home to care for her while we worked, but even this level of care became insufficient at a certain point. Although Abigail
receives superb care at the facility where she lives now (she is in a hospice unit in a larger hospital--the hospice is for terminally ill children only), she is in a vegetative state. She is completely paralyzed, does not respond to or recognize anyone, and is in almost constant discomfort because of the chronic congestion that is caused by her inability to swallow or
cough. Suctioning and various positioning techniques relieve her discomfort somewhat, and she is given antibiotics and
other medications when she is given antibiotics and other medications when she gets respiratory infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis, but such treatment is only partially successful. *B85 Eventually her ability to fight off these infections will weaken to the point where she will die, probably by the age of 4 or 5, but possibly earlier.
Although my husband and I are both carriers for Tay-Sachs, we can still have a normal family. With Tay-Sachs, one out
of four pregnancies are affected when both parents are carriers. In other words, every time I get pregnant, we have a 75%
chance of having a normal, healthy child--but I do have to have a prenatal test. Done between 9 and 12 weeks of pregnancy, the test--known as a CVS--is highly accurate, and allows me to have an abortion much earlier than if I were tested
by amniocentesis, which cannot be done until about 16 weeks of pregnancy.
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It took a while for my husband and I to feel that we were emotionally ready to have another child, but a year and a half
ago we made the decision to start trying again. Since that time, I have had several early miscarriages and two healthy
pregnancies--healthy in the sense that I did not miscarry. However, in both cases the prenatal test indicated that I was
carrying a Tay-Sachs-affected fetus. In both cases I elected to terminate the pregnancies. This decision was not painless
(abortion never is), but it was an easy decision to make. I would never, never, never, in a million years, deliberately and
knowingly bring another Tay-Sachs child into the world. The knowledge that I have the ability to spare another child the
degradation that my cherished daughter is going through means everything to me. It would be a crime to put another
child through the humiliation and pain that this cruel disease inflicts.
*B86 At the same time, the hope of someday having a healthy child, and the knowledge that it can happen if we will only
have the strength to keep trying, is one of the few things that is helping to keep me sane through the anguish of watching
my child slowly die. If abortion were to be made illegal, I would have to give up that hope, as I would never take the risk
of conceiving and having to bear another child with Tay-Sachs. Legal abortion for me and my husband is a pro-family issue--without it I could not have a family. It is as simple as that.
***
LETTER-369
Like most women in this country, I am concerned about the possibility that the Supreme Court will substantially limit
Roe v. Wade. Also like many women in this country, I had an abortion in my youth--one that was legal and safe. I am
committed to making sure that my daughters have the same opportunity if necessary.
When I was 19 I became pregnant. I was not irresponsible; I had an I.U.D. But no method of contraception is perfect and
I was one of the three out of a hundred that didn't make it. At the time I was an honors student in college working my
way through school at a 32 hour a week job. Had I not had the abortion, had I decided to keep the baby, I would have had
to quit school. I would probably still be working as a sales clerk somewhere, eeking out a living just below the poverty
line. Instead I had the opportunity to go to law school and become a successful, contributing tax-payer. I am able to ensure that my children will be able to *B87 grow into successful adults rather than part of the seemingly unending cycle of
poverty.
I now have two children, the youngest is only four weeks old. There is not a day that goes by that I am not clear about the
miracle that life is. I would not have another abortion if I became pregnant again. My life is different. My potential is different. The life I could provide to my child is different. But I do not have a moment of regret about the choice I made in
1970.
Enclosed is $100 to keep up the good work. When I can, I will send more. If there is anything else I can do, please let me
know.
***
LETTER-568
I was a nineteen-year-old college student in New York when I got pregnant in 1962. I and my boyfriend pooled our
money and borrowed from friends until we had the $460 necessary to pay for an illegal abortion from a doctor to whom a
friend had referred us. We went to the doctor's office and I had the abortion, without anesthesia, while my boyfriend
waited and worried that I might die.
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When the operation was over, we took the elevator to the ground floor and found the street lined with police cars. The officers surrounded us and arrested me, my boyfriend, and the physician for the illegal abortion. The took me, alone to another doctor and subjected me to a physical examination to verify that an abortion had been performed. Then they took
me to jail where I spent the night alone in a cell. The police provided a box *B88 of sanitary napkins because I was still
bleeding from the surgery.
The next morning the district attorney in the Bronx filed charges against me, my boyfriend, and the doctor. The judge released me and my boyfriend in the recognizance of our parents whom the police informed of the proceedings. The New
York Post printed a story about the arrest on page five of the morning paper on May 8, 1962. My brother was a newsboy,
and he stole all the papers out of one of the buildings on his route in an effort to protect my privacy. The charges were
eventually dismissed.
I have now been married for almost twenty-five years to the man who was my boyfriend at the time. We waited to have
children until we could provide them the opportunities they deserved. Our two daughters are now in college themselves.
One volunteers in her spare time as a counselor at Planned Parenthood. I have agreed to allow my story to be told because I am committed to preserving my rights and my daughters' rights to privacy and liberty.
II.
Letters of unnamed Amici Curiae: the Jane Roes
ROE LETTER-26
In light of recent reports that the U.S. Supreme Court is considering overturning Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion,
I feel an absolute necessity to voice my opinion as well as my own personal experience.
In February 1985, I was treated for an exacerbation of Multiple Sclerosis with a *B89 very high dosage of Prednisone for
three (3) weeks. Unfortunately, during that period, I unknowingly became pregnant, even though my husband and I were
practicing a very reliable method of contraception. Inasmuch as corticosteroids are known to cause severe birth defects,
especially during the first 6-8 weeks of pregnancy, I knew I would have to abort the embryo. I would not put myself, nor
my husband, through the trauma of raising a child with a severe birth defect.
In addition, the stress associated with giving birth and then raising a deformed child could also have had a detrimental
impact on my illness.
Thus, I located a Physician who performed the VIP (Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy) under general anesthesia in
a hospital setting on an outpatient basis.
To this day, I am thankful that the procedure was available in a hospital setting. If it had been illegal, (or even restricted
to women whose lives were in danger), I would have been forced to go abroad, or worse consider the horrible alternative
of possible mutilation or death!
An abortion should not be anyone's decision but the woman's - it's her body; her health; her life, at stake.
It's a RIGHT that should be available to any woman for whatever reason. It's availability does not mandate its use, rather,
it's a CHOICE! A choice that should always be available!
***
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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ROE LETTER-27
I am writing as a co-signer to the amicus curiae brief that NARAL will file on the cases pending in the Supreme Court
that *B90 will affect the legality and availability of abortions in the United States. Although I am not ashamed of having
had an abortion, please do not use my name on your brief.
My first accidental pregnancy occurred in 1981 when I was 25: My husband and I have always been dedicated users of
birth control, and the pregnancy was a bitter and painful shock to me. We had been married for two and a half years, and
although the marriage was not happy, we decided to have the child. I was terribly depressed for much of the pregnancy,
and to this day I wonder if I ever would have had children if the choice had not been pressured. But by the time our first
son was born we were both happy to welcome him into our lives. Still, the adjustment to motherhood has been the hardest thing I have ever done (I'm still adjusting); it has also given me great happiness. When our older son was just a year
old, I missed a period. Apparently, I managed to expel a size C Lippes Loop without being aware of it. I still can't figure
out how that could happen! This time, neither my husband nor I could face another baby. We knew that thousands of
people of had babies that close -- or closer -- together, but yet another unplanned child would be too much for us. At that
time I felt that, as much as I loved my son, I knew what the physical and psychological cost of another child would be,
and I did not think I could do it again so soon. It was so hard for me to be a good mother, and I wanted so much to be a
good one, but I had already spent a year struggling not to feel overwhelmed with one baby -- I knew I could not cope
with two. My husband concurred and accompanied me to *B91 an abortion which took place, ironically, on the tenth anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Nice, middle-class comfortably married ladies are not supposed to have abortions, and although I feel apprehensive of
social censure (that's why I don't want you to use my name), I do not regret my choice. I am sorry I could not bear that
child, because I see how beautifully my two boys are turning out, and I know that child too would have been a lovely
child. But the cost of having it would have been too high for me, for my husband, and perhaps for our older son. And
nice middle-class ladies definitely do not put babies up for adoption.
I am now 33 years old and, despite unerringly consistent use of birth control, have had three accidental pregnancies. I
have used every birth control device known to man or woman. I cannot take the pill because it makes me incapacitatingly
depressed; I cannot use a diaphragm because of anatomical peculiarities; I have expelled two different IUD's. I will probably be fertile another fifteen to twenty years. I hope the condoms and the sponges keep working. Every month I count
the days. I do not know if I will have another child, if we can afford another child economically or psychically. The cost
is high on both counts, but I'm not ready to be sterilized. If I need another abortion in the future, I just hope, for the sake
of all my family, it will be a safe, legal one.
***
ROE LETTER-53
I am taking the time to write this letter because I believe that there are a *B92 some generalizations made about women
who have had abortions, and their reasons for having chosen abortion. Although I can only speak for myself, there are
probably many women just like me.
One misconception held by anti-abortionists is that an unplanned pregnancy is somehow the woman's fault. Granted, had
I (and my partner) practiced abstinence, the pregnancy would never have occurred. However, my pregnancy resulted
from a failure of my birth control method, which is supposedly more than 95% accurate. I resent the attitude of those
who believe that a woman should be punished for a supposed fault, especially, when the fault does not exist.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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I believe that taking the time out to have a child would have changed my life for the worse, whether I would have had the
child put up for adoption or not. I was a junior in college, with hopes of attending graduate school to obtain my doctorate, in a field that does not allow falling behind, even for a few months. I am now a graduate student, working for my
doctorate in biophysics. At the risk of sounding extremely immodest, I know that among my professors I am thought to
have a promising career ahead of me as a biomedical researcher. For those who wonder about possible Einsteins that
could have been born, what about the female Einsteins that could have developed had their lives not been disrupted by an
unplanned pregnancy?
I still believe that my choice was the right one; I have never for a moment regretted it. Even if I had never had an abortion, I would still be pro-choice today. I support a woman's right to reproductive choice, and oppose anyone who *B93
would attempt to force his/her beliefs on others. Thank you for your time.
***
ROE LETTER-78
I had an abortion today. I am a young widow in the military and have a 3 year old son. My son's daddy died suddenly the
day before his 3rd birthday. We are still trying to cope with the loss - both emotionally and financially.
I've been stationed in a 3rd world country full of poverty, dirt, ignorance, tyranny, and hostility towards Americans. I had
to rely on military doctors who apparently were highly incompetent. They told me I wasn't pregnant when I was really 15
weeks along! The only military personnel who was helpful was the Chaplain. He helped me keep my sanity in the month
of December.
I had had no symptoms of pregnancy till December, the month I asked for a pregnancy test and exam. Even though I was
assured, You just have an infection, I recognized the signs of pregnancy that finally emerged full blown by January. I
learned that only dirty, life-threatening illegal abortions exist in that country. And so I struggled through the red tape to
get out of that country and come back home where I could exercise some control over my life, safely and sanely.
It took me till February before I got home to my parents. By this time I was 22 weeks! I was determined to end that pregnancy because financially and mentally and physically I knew I could not survive if I carried to term. While giving birth
to my 3 year old I had multiple complications, and the doctors then told me it would be physically risky for me to try
*B94 again. My son already had lost his Daddy. I surely didn't want him to lose me, too. And even if I did survive, I felt
I owed what resources I had left to the child already living and needing me so badly.
Fortunately (it was high time I started having some luck), my parents found the only clinic in a 4 state area that performed abortions up to 24 weeks. They went with me.
It is the 2nd day of a two-day procedure. I received the best of care from both the counseling and medical staffs, and all
went well. I am feeling fine physically and relieved and grateful emotionally.
Now I can begin again, and rebuild a life for me and my son. I thank God that I was born in the good old U.S. of A.
where people have personal rights and freedoms. May we never lose our liberty and fall backward into the mentality and
condition of a 3rd world country!
***
*C1 APPENDIX C
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FRIENDS LETTER-5.
C3
FRIENDS LETTER-17.
C4
FRIENDS LETTER-27.
C5
FRIENDS LETTER-30.
C6
FRIENDS LETTER-33.
C6
FRIENDS LETTER-41.
C15
FRIENDS LETTER-50.
C16
FRIENDS LETTER-53.
C17
FRIENDS LETTER-61.
C20
FRIENDS LETTER-67.
C20
FRIENDS LETTER-122.
C22
FRIENDS LETTER-127.
C23
FRIENDS LETTER-166.
C24
FRIENDS LETTER-170.
C25
FRIENDS LETTER-172.
C29
FRIENDS LETTER-179.
C30
FRIENDS LETTER-227.
C31
FRIENDS LETTER-240.
C32
FRIENDS LETTER-242.
C33
FRIENDS LETTER-245.
C34
FRIENDS LETTER-249.
C34
FRIENDS LETTER-260.
C35
FRIENDS LETTER-264.
C36
*C3 Letters from Friends of the Amici Curiae Quoted or Cited in Text
FRIENDS LETTER-5
It was a beautiful day in September 1974, when I made the decision to begin working in an abortion clinic. I was a young
woman who had known the fear of pregnancy without the availability of legal abortion. I knew about illegals. My aunt
had several illegal abortions and my grandfather's stories as a police officer, had been passed through a generation. He
told of attempted suicides, the use of coat hangers, and deaths related to hemorrhage. I knew about the pill, Planned
Parenthood, and abortion clinics in New York. I though I knew it all but soon began to realize I knew little.
I knew the fear of pregnancy as a consenting adult. What I didn't know was incest at the age of 11 or rape at the age 16
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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by an older boyfriend and the resulting pregnancies. I did not know that men tell women they had a vasectomy, so they
need not use a condom. I did not know that tubal ligations fail and women become pregnant. I did not know that parents
beat their children that become pregnant. I did not know that desperate women would resort to unconventional methods
to rid themselves of a pregnancy, when safe, legal abortion was available.
I did not know that a minority of religious zealots would try to push their beliefs on desperate women. I did not know
that their ultimate goal is to convert the world to their belief of reborn again christianity. I did not know that these
same people would not only tell me what to *C4 do in my bedroom, but tell me what I can and can not read. I did not
know that I would work in an environment of harassment and fear, where windows have been riveted with bullets and
phones have carried bomb threats. I did not know that I would be followed in my car or my personal privacy invaded by
home picketers.
The past 14 years have been an eye opening experience. I know that a registered nurse who works in an abortion clinic
is dedicated to the right of women to receive free access to safe, legal abortion no matter what the cost. I know that Roe
v. Wade must remain as written or my grandfather's stories will no longer be a part of history. They will reappear on
daily basis, and desperate women will die. I know that it could be a cold, dark day in the summer of 1989 when the Supreme Court decides to begin chipping away at Roe v. Wade, but I am hopeful and know that summer is full of sunshine
and warmth, and the Justices will safeguard this 16 year old right of women to choose a safe and legal abortion.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-17
The importance of choice and the right to a legal safe termination of pregnancy is an extremely strong issue for me. Perhaps because of three people I have know who have had to deal with this issue.
My sister-in-law as a teenage became pregnant before abortion was legal. She had a back alley abortion. As a result of
this she was not able to have children when she was a married woman with an education and very much wanted children.
We have always felt that if the procedure *C5 had been done in a hospital or clinic under clean + safe conditions, by a
doctor this tragedy wouldn't have happened. (1950's)
My second experience was with my cousin + his wife. They had two children + were thrilled when she became pregnant.
At the time there was a measles epidemic. The two older boys brought measles home from school to her. He doctor felt
the fetus had been damaged and the pregnancy should be terminated. She agonized over this. In the 60's you had to have
a 2nd opinion and a psychiatrist had to write a letter on her behalf stating that she was emotionally unable to deal with a
deformed child. Why on top of everything should a woman be forced to go through this?
The most traumatic case was a girl I new in school in the 50's. She was very quiet and shy. I understood she came from a
very religious background. She became pregnant and went to Tijuana. She never made it home. She had a massive
hemorage and died between the border + San Diego. She was seventeen.
Never again!!
***
FRIENDS LETTER-27
My aunt died having a back room illegal abortion. Abortion is one of the most fundamental of rights; the right to pur-
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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sue happiness, the right over one's own body. The folks who want to overturn Roe vs. Wade desire to keep women bare
foot and pregnant, and out of the business world. Men are terrified of this and the ignorant women who support this view
(because of their own terror of having to justify their lives.
*C6 FRIENDS LETTER-30
Though I have not had an abortion, I have taught young women who, because of sexual immaturity and/or date rape,
found themselves pregnant and in need of an abortion. Because of the Roe v. Wade decision, they at least had the freedom to choose thier options.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-33
I am writing to share some of my experiences with respect to both legal and illegal abortions over the past 25 years. It is
my wish to urge the Supreme Court, in its consideration of the Webster case, and others which may follow, not to limit
women's access to competent and legal abortions. Please feel free to excerpt any material which you feel may be useful
in that regard.
I write from the perspective of a woman young enough to be still of child-bearing age but old enough to remember
vividly the last era of illegal abortions. I also bring to these issues my training as a geneticist and physician, all of which
reinforces my strong opinion that, whatever abuses may be associated with readily available abortions, the alternatives
harbor much greater evils, both for the individual woman and for society in general.
I was in college in the mid-1960's in western Oregon. Among my friends and close acquaintances there were four women, that I knew of, who had abortions. Let me tell you about them.
Joetta was a large, effusive, good-hearted woman, full of laughter and optimism. She was a virgin until she met *C7 Dan
in her junior year. They married shortly after graduation. But before they did, they conceived a child, whether through
carelessness or contraceptive failure I do not know. After much agonizing Joetta sought an abortion. She was a bright and
ambitious woman, and although she sorely wanted children, she also wanted to finish her education, and to allow Dan to
finish his. Whatever arguments can be made for adoption, the fact of the matter is that an ill-timed pregnancy, carried to
term, frequently derails a woman's (and, less frequently a man's) chances for education, career and achievement. This
was true then - it is still true today. Joetta went to Seattle for her abortion. It was done in a doctor's office, after hours
(and after the money was counted), without anaesthesia, quickly and gruffly. She drove back home the same night. She
had significant pain and bleeding for many weeks, although no immediate life-threatening complications. She was graduated, married, and went on to graduate school. Some years later, in a college bulletin, I saw a notice of her death, at age
26. Inquiries of mutual friends revealed that she and Dan had tried for some years, without success to conceive. Ultimately they did, and she died of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. A late result of her previous abortion? Scarring of the fallopian tubes due to poor surgical technique? Who knows. Does it matter? Not to Joetta. Not to Dan. But to women grappling today with hard reproductive and personal choices - yes, it matters very much.
Nancy Jo was a very different kind of woman. She was a tiny, fragile-looking, *C8 spectacularly beautiful girl with an
affect of innocence and gullibility which was only partly an act. Men and women alike felt a protectiveness towards her she seemed so in need of cuddling and looking after. One was always somehow surprised when a chance remark revealed
her sharp mind and almost causally obtained academic grounding.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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She was also what many would call a slut. By late adolescence her lovers were too numerous to count. And everyone
knew it. What most people didn't know was that her first sexual experiences were acquired at the hands of her alcoholic
and brutal father while her equally drunken mother slept off her booze. She was a victim of childhood sexual abuse before it became fashionable to acknowledge this social tragedy, before there were hotlines. A rural Wyoming girl, raised
on a poverty stricken chicken farm, a single daughter among four brothers, she learned early that compliance with men's
wishes won her certain freedoms - and a warped, impoverished kind of affection, valuable only to one who has never
known real caring. In spite of this familial cesspool in which she was raised, she achieved academically and won a scholarship to college, working part time to pay living expenses. But her good mind was sabotaged by her emotional neediness. Nancy Jo was astounded when she became pregnant, although no one else was. I am ashamed to recall it, but I
laughed when she told me. She saw herself as a little girl - how could she be pregnant? She was, however, grown-up
enough to know that she was not a fit mother and cognizant enough of social reality to see abortion as her only salvation.
For women faced with unwanted *C9 pregnancies, in situations of real or perceived isolation, there really are no choices.
She took an overnight train, alone, to a small town in Montana where she had made contact with a supposedly sympathetic elderly doctor. She wore a white dress - a defiant badge of girlish innocence in the August heat. Two days later she
staggered, ashen, back to our apartment. (I was the one taking care of Nancy Jo that summer-someone always was.)
Her white dress was smudged with grime from the dirty train and a large red stain covered the back of the skirt, directing
one's eye to the rivulets of blood running down her legs. Why the cabdriver who picked her up at the train station hadn't
taken her directly to a hospital I will never know.
In Montana, following instructions, she had checked into a fleabag hotel near the train depot. A nurse, summoned by
the desk clerk, had escorted her, via a circuitous route, to the doctor. He had scraped her out unceremoniously and had
sent her back to the hotel with instructions not to call if she had problems. At our local emergency room she was packed
and cauterized and transfused. Two days later, unable to control her bleeding, her doctor performed a hysterectomy. She
was 20 years old. It seemed at the time, and in retrospect as well, that the physical and emotional scars of that dreadful,
seedy and painful episode represent an additional nightmare that that already sorely burdened young woman didn't need.
I tell Lynne's story with a knot in my stomach and sweaty palms. It's been 24 years; I remember it like it was yesterday.
*C10 She was my best friend and I was with her for her procedure. Lynne got pregnant using a diaphragm. Not irresponsible adolescent passion. Perhaps improper use. But probably just bad luck. It happens. The doctor came to my
second floor walkup apartment on a Sunday morning. (We were serious students; we didn't want to miss any classes.) He
was probably in his mid 60's, unkempt, a sneer under his straggly mustache. Money, ladies, he said, then we work.
Lynne handed over $200. He turned to lock the front door behind him. He eyed us critically, with a definite leer. He put
out his hand and fondled my breasts, quickly, jabbingly. I was too dumbfounded to withdraw. He looked at Lynne, long
and lean, considerably less well endowed that my zaftig figure, and said You should grow some tits, sweetheart, like
your friend here. Then he reached around and squeezed her behind. But you're just fine back here - good and firm.
Nodding at me, She's too broad for my taste. Any vestige of sophistication, any veneer of independent womanhood,
any sense of intellectual accomplishment we might have ever had vanished in front of that sleazy, leering old man. Why
didn't we kick his butt out on the spot? Sheer terror, I suppose. Both of him and of this terrible, threatening unwanted
pregnancy and all it implied.
He suddenly changed his focus, became all business. He surveyed the apartment, and came finally to the kitchen with its
large window facing an open field. He withdrew a linen-wrapped package from a brown paper bag. It was sealed with
autoclave tape - the kind, I had learned in biology class, that developed black lines *C11 when exposed to certain temperatures and pressures. I remember thinking, naively, that at least the instruments were sterile.
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Lynne had her abortion on my kitchen table, with her legs strapped to the high backs of two wooden chairs, and a dishrag
stuffed in her mouth to muffle the screams. I sat in the living room and sobbed while it was going on. Afterward he
chucked me on the chin and left. Lynne lay on the living room couch and said only Thank God the body doesn't remember pain. But the mind does. I'm a physician now, and I've witnessed my share of pain and suffering, but seldom have I
felt so helpless, so at the mercy of a hostile biology, as on that day.
Diane's story is very different. She found the courage to tell her parents when she became pregnant. And her parents
found the emotional and financial resources to help her. She flew to Japan, with her mother, and obtained a safe, legal
abortion in a modern clinic. She was observed for 24 hours for complications, received counseling on birth control, and
returned to the U.S. chastened and subdued but not brutalized and afraid for her life and for future fertility.
Somewhat closer to home is my stepdaughter's saga. Her natural father had abandoned her and her mother at an early
age. At the age of 15 she lost her mother to breast cancer. Her stepfather (now my husband) tried hard after his wife's
death to provide her with a secure and loving home. But some combination of adolescent rebeliousness and, undoubtedly,
an enormous sense of abandonment and vulnerability, led her to a variety of *C12 self-destructive behaviors. A former
honors student, she was failing in school and pregnant before her 16th birthday. She had a safe, legal abortion, got some
psychiatric counseling and was graduated from high school two years later - not with honors, but with a diploma in hand.
She is nineteen now, and we have had some rough times. But she is growing up, letting go of the hostility towards the
world, showing signs of a growing maturity and functional independence. I think she will be OK. Should this child,
already scarred by harsh circumstance beyond her control, have been forced to complete that pregnancy, perhaps drop
out of high school, or at best continue school in an atmosphere of snickers and ridicule from her peers? How much psychological burden can be assumed with any hope of a functional recovery? Do we sacrifice our adolescents (foolish and
irresponsible as they may often be) in the name of a morality focused on the unborn? Sometimes the living must take precedence, in needs and rights, over the yet-to-become.
Which of these scenarios would we prefer to see replayed? Unwanted pregnancies will continue to occur, and women, attempting to compete in academic, business and social settings which are still governed by rules adapted to the male's
freedom from reproductive responsibilities, will continue to refuse to have their lives controlled by their biology and will
opt for abortions in many circumstances. The fact of the matter is that over the last ten years contraceptive options have
been reduced, rather that expanded. With the virtual abandonment of IUD's because of many complications and the new
suggestion *C13 in the medical literature that birth control pills may in fact place women (especially younger women) at
an increased risk for breast cancer, even those women who are methodical and rigorous in their use of birth control may
find themselves forced to choose a less reliable method, and thus place themselves at risk for an unwanted pregnancy,
rather than compromise their health. And even those who conceive through blatant unconscionable carelessness should
not be butchered by back-room abortionists nor should they be forced to face a premature parenthood which would likely
be handled in an equally irresponsible manner. Society has shown no great willingness to address (with pockektbook in
hand) the need for childcare and meaningful levels of supplemental income for children being raised in impoverished environments. The number of such children will increase dramatically if abortion becomes unavailable to all those unwilling to risk their lives with an illegal procedure and unable to afford travel to a country where legal abortion exists. My
personal feeling is that regardless of the level of societal responsibility a woman should have the right to control her reproductive life, if necessary through abortion. But until such time as our society is willing to accept complete financial
responsibility for children born to unwilling parents, as well as to ensure (if such a thing is ever possible) that a pregnant
woman suffer no discrimination in the employment marketplace, it is sheer foolishness as well as blatant sex discrimination to force a woman to carry to term an unwanted pregnancy.
*C14 While the accidental conception probably accounts for the greatest number of abortions, there is another category
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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of pregnancy which demands your serious consideration in any discussion of limiting a woman's access to legal abortion.
That is the pregnancy involving a fetus which has been determined by prenatal examination to be severely abnormal. I
speak now as a physician and geneticist, involved for a number of years in counseling and consoling would-be parents
whose potential conceptions are at risk for a variety of genetic and developmental defects. I speak also as a 43 year old
mother, anxious to have another child, yet painfully aware of my significant age-related risk for conceiving a child with a
chromosomal abnormality. In many cases these are parents (myself included) who would not dare to risk a pregnancy
were prenatal diagnosis and the option of aborting a seriously compromised fetus available. Many accuse such families
of demanding perfect children and abhor the notion of selectively aborting abnormal conceptions. I think this attitude
represents a tremendous naivity concerning the gravity of many of these defects and the emotional and financial havoc
that the birth of such a child can bring to a family. Should a family at risk, for instance, for Tay-Sachs disease, be forced
to watch the agonizing, lingering and inevitable degeneration and death of a toddler rather that terminating the doomed
pregnancy? Should a woman be forced to carry to term a fetus, such as an anencephalic or a trisomy-18, which faces sure
and early death? And while some families may feel capable of dealing with *C15 the many problems of a severely retarded child, such as one with Down Syndrome, others will see such a birth as a tragedy which would destroy the fabric
of their lives. Is society ready to accept the burden of caring for these children. (And I do not mean in institutional settings, the thought of which brings shudders to those for whom quality of life is an issue on equal par with life itself.) Of
course not - not in any meaningful fashion. You cannot convince me that adoption of such children is a feasible alternative. The number of disabled children currently in institutional or foster care awaiting, interminably, adoption by loving
families, speaks forcefully against this as a realistic possibility.
These are highly personal issues, requiring in each case careful and agonizing decision-making. But the decisions must
remain private ones, not legally mandated, because the consequences of these decisions are, ultimately, borne by the woman in question and, if she is lucky, her family. The issue of when life begins, and the rights of an unthinking embryo,
become academic exercises when measured against the right of the individual woman to define her reproductive role and
the enormous pain which is incurred when that right is denied.
FRIENDS LETTER-41
I am writing this letter in reference to the following cases: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, Turnock v. Ragsdale, Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health or Hodgson v. Minnesota.
*C16 The freedom of choice is something that the American women have worked long and hard for. If legal abortion is
canceled than we will have progressed back twenty years or more when a women had to seek illegal means of abortion,
thus causing deaths when it was not necessary.
I can speak on a personal basis about the above as I lost my mother at the age of 7 years because at that time it was illegal to obtain an abortion even for medical reasons. Our family doctor had to send her to someone else because he was legally unable to perform the required abortion.
By making it legal to have an abortion has eliminated many number of unnecessary deaths.
I and my family stand with the majority of U.S. citizens that support legal abortion.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-50
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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As a fourth year medical student in the sixties, I took a 1 month elective in Obstetrics at Cornell in NYC. In those four
weeks, I took care of 2 patients, 2 victims of illegal and unclean abortions, who subsequently died of sepsis. One was a
beautiful, intelligent and mature auburned hair teenager whom I shall never forget.
It was with relief that one of my best friends could, years later, have an aseptic (and legal) abortion so that she could later
get married and have a stable home for a wanted (and affordable) child of her own. Because of the legalization of abortions she and her wanted child are alive and thriving.
***
I am writing to support the amicus briefs being filed in support of women's untrammeled right to abortion.
During 1983, I was president of a chapter of the National Organization for Women in ..., Illinois. The three hospitals in
... do not permit abortions under any circumstances, one for religious reasons and two for fear of what anti-choice terrorists can do. The least of the consequences include disruption of ambulance traffic and stress on patients who can hear the
bullhorns.
What it boils down to, then and now, is that you cannot get an abortion in .... The closest clinic is in Granite City,
Illinois, about 100 miles away. Because my number was listed as the chapter contact in the phone book, I frequently got
urgent calls from desperate women, women who were so frantic to terminate their pregnancies that they would threaten
self-mutilation through self-abortion if a way could not be found to get them south to Granite City.
In the Ragsdale case in Rockford, Illinois, the same phenomenon occurred. The clinic there is the only one for 100 miles
in any direction. When it was threatened, the local NOW chapter started getting phone calls from women in despair.
When I was in high school, abortion was not legal in Illinois. I remember hearing a pregnant 15-year-old offer to sleep
with an entire carful of young men in hopes that this vigorous activity would cause her to lose the baby. I remember one
young man of my acquaintance repeatedly punching his 16-year old girlfriend in the stomach in *C18 hopes of initiating
a miscarriage. I know of another case in the late fifties in which a woman tried to self-abort by douching with an industrial solvent. Her son, born alive, is in his 30's now with the reasoning ability of a six-year-old. No one knows who will
take care of him when his mother dies.
In my own circle of close friends, one woman was raped by an uncle at 9; another by a friend of her brother's at 11; another by a complete stranger at 14. None of these rapes was reported. The women did not speak of them at all until years,
even decades, later. How will similarly situated women be treated under state abortion laws that will require prompt reporting of assaults before permitting abortions? One good friend was raped by her father; do you think he would have let
her go to the police?
It may be time for the privacy argument to fall, and it is definitely time to release the court from making medical decisions. However, the Constitution gives strong grounds for the right of the woman alone to determine her reproductive
status in its guarantees of equal protection and its prohibition of slavery.
The strongest argument to support a woman's untrammeled right to abort hinges on the personhood of the mother, and
bypasses both the sentimental and the medical debates over the personhood or citizenship of the fetus. No law in the
country can compel one citizen to risk his life for another. Even military law cannot compel fatal altruism on the part of
one individual for the direct and immediate benefit of another, even a comrade in arms. No state can compel a bystander
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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to *C19 intervene in a crime in progress, no matter how heinous the provocation nor how slight the physical risk to the
intervenor. Likewise, no state can compel a father to donate so much as a single pint of blood to his baby.
However, anti-choice advocates do not hesitate to put such a compulsion on mothers. Although childbirth is demonstrably riskier than abortion at any range of maternal age, most anti-choice statutes require a clear and immediate threat
to maternal life before permitting abortion. A mother cannot withhold her blood nor any other bodily necessity the fetus
may require. If the offspring in questions were a six-year-old child rather than a six week old or even six-month fetus,
she could legally, (if not morally), deny access to her organs for transplant and her blood of transfusion. It is only during
pregnancy that anti-abortion legislation, in the absence of Supreme Court protection, can strip a woman of her bodily integrity and her legal independence. Under no circumstances can a man be so disenfranchised.
Finally, there are constitutional prohibitions of slave labor; yet to compel a woman to bear an unwanted pregnancy to
term is forced labor in both senses of the phrase, leaving a woman a slave of the state, the father, or the fetus (depending
on whom the party of interest is determined to be).
Please protect the right of American women to self-determination and safe, legal, and anti-septic abortions.
***
First of all I'd like to express my thanks to the Supreme Court Judges for making abortions safe and legal. On a personal
level I'm currently involved to keep it that way.
I am an only child and was raised by the women in my family. Every woman in my family has been abused by the men in
their lives. It was hand-me-down effect from alcohol abuse that led my step father to sexually abuse myself, he forced
himself on me for 9 years.
My two aunts have each had one abortion, during the time of legal and safe abortions. I escorted one aunt to the clinic, I
was reminded that while my stepfather took his pleasures with me, just how fortunate I was to not become pregnant!
There is no doubt in my mind I would have wanted the Freedom of Choice!
***
FRIENDS LETTER-67
When I was married in the early 1950's, I wanted to have four children and, fortunately, in time each of four babies were
welcomed into our family. My family doctor advised me not to have anymore children for health reasons and I had
already decided I would not consider a fifth. I asked him, however, what I would do if I should become pregnant again.
He replied, You'll have the baby. His statement made a profound impression on me, penetrating to the very core of my
innermost self. His attitude of mandatory motherhood no-matter-what contradicted everything I knew to be respectful,
compassionate and fair to a fellow human being. His pronouncement motivated me to *C21 become an abortion rights
activist and for the past twenty years I have done whatever I could to help keep abortion safe, legal and within the reach
of any woman who feels she must make that choice.
I respect the view of those people who would not choose abortion for themselves. It's the political antiabortionists I quarrel with. By the way, I have known so-called Right-to-Lifers to change their minds when abortion got down to them per-
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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sonally and to insist that their daughters have abortions for no other reason than that they didn't like their daughter's sex
partner. It is as unconscionable to force a woman into an abortion as it is to deny her the right that is hers--to choose if
and when to have a baby. I cannot respect, therefore, the view of those people who oppose abortion for all women. Over
the course of some ten years I offered help to about thirty women ranging in age from fifteen to thirty. Each woman had
her own special reason for having an abortion. I never gave advice--I'm not a counselor. I gave them what they asked for-information that ought to be free to anyone and financial help. The fifteen year-old feared to go to her parents--religious
fanatics. An eighteen year-old, an exchange student raped in Spain, could not face her parents. Most were college students facing an unwanted pregnancy alone. Whatever their individual reasons for choosing abortion, all were exceedingly
grateful for the opportunity to make a choice that made the difference in their lives. There is no doubt in my mind that
the right to live belongs first to the already born (female and male) who know what is best for them and who strive to
*C22 make the best of their existence in a world that cries out for sane judgments.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-122
I am writing to briefly describe my experiences with young women seeking an abortion. As a result of these experiences,
I feel strongly that it is critical for all women to have the right to choose an abortion, regardless of their individual circumstances.
In 1983-84, I was a graduate student in public health at ... University. In order to earn money, I worked as a counselor at
a large abortion clinic. I was responsible for counseling women over the phone and scheduling their appointments. In addition, I frequently worked as the admitting counselor, preparing patients for the abortion and answering any final questions they may have had.
Many of the patients at the clinic were very young women, some who had never ventured beyond their neighborhoods.
When they arrived at the clinic, most were anxious and some fearful. Yet despite their anxieties, all were sure of their decision to abort. For many, it was an agonizing choice, not one made lightly or without serious consideration. As I talked
to these patients, some told stories of rape, incest, birth control failure or ignorance about reproductive health. For all of
them the availability of abortion allowed them to maintain their physical, emotional and social health. It was an option
that allowed young women to continue their educations and pursue their dreams. It allowed rape victims to begin the
healing process. It allowed mothers to *C23 sustain their families. It allowed women to maintain control over their bodies, their lives and their futures. For many of the patients I saw, if abortion was not available, their lives would be irrevocably different and decidedly damaged.
Because of this experience, I firmly support a woman's right to choose abortion and I pledge to do all I can sustain that
right.
FRIENDS LETTER-127
I have been a nurse for almost thirty years. In those thirty years I have taken care of women who have had both legal and
illegal abortions.
When I first began my nursing career abortions were illegal. This did not stop desparate women from attempting to abort
themselves. I have vivid memories of caring for a woman who had used a caustic substance on herself. She developed a
severe infection and was admitted to the hospital. She went into renal failure and had to be dialized. She did not survive!
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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I shudder at the thought that our Supreme Court would force us back to those horrors.
I have also spent time counselling women with problem pregnancies. These women did not want to be pregnant. They
did not make the decision lightly to terminate their pregnancy. For many of them a pregnancy would have forced them to
drop out of college and seek jobs. Many would end up on welfare to raise their babies.
People who suggest that these women should deliver their babies and give them up for adoption have learned nothing
from history. The majority of women I have worked with who continued their pregnancies *C24 did not give up their babies. They kept their babies and raised them as single, poor moms who abuse their children.
It is also an insult to women to force them to be brood mares for childless couples. The courts should not have the right
to tell women how their bodies will be used.
Please show that you understand the lessons from history and do not allow abortions to become illegal again. Women
will continue to have abortion so please lets keep them safe and legal.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-166
I am a 55 year old mother of two children who were both wanted and planned. I was fortunate enough, having married at
18 to have had proper counseling on family planning.
I know that personally, I would have a very hard time deciding to have an abortion, because of my strong belief in life.
However, the quality of life of unwanted and battered children is questionable.
Also, I have known a young woman years ago who died at age 26 of complications from self abortion. I have been aware
that thousands of women each year, for as long as I can remember, have gone to extreme lengths, endangering their lives
to get out of unwanted pregnancies.
I support healthy families, planned parenthood, but about all freedom of choice. This is a fundamental right for every woman.
***
The Complacent Radical
Didn't we do this 20 years ago? Anne asked as we searched for the number of the house where the meeting was scheduled. Didn't we win this battle?
Indeed we had. In the late 60s we marched and spoke out to legalize abortion, revealed those sad, frightening, sometimes
horrible secrets of our and our friends' illegal abortions. We had been arrested and freed on our own recognizance, made
speeches and defended ourselves to an IRS that harassed us with tax audits in three of every five years, though we rarely
earned more than $7500 in any given year. Once before we had met in small apartments to plan strategy and review the
painful personal reasons for our political activism.
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But here we were again, with all the deja vu sparked by Salvation Army couches overlain with Indian-print fabrics and
proclaiming posters decorating the walls.
When it comes time to reveal why we are at this particular meeting, we embarrassedly say we have been through this before. Embarrassed because our victory has not held; embarrassed because we have spent many of the intervening years
building our professional lives; embarrassed because we couldn't keep Lowell Weicker in the Senate or Danforth Quayle
out of the White House.
How often will we have to do this? we think. Why must we do it? Haven't our victories permitted us to live secure bourgeois existences, to leave the streets for comfortable offices and labor-saving-deviced homes? I had not expected to be
putting on Emma Goldman's mantle again. In *C26 fact, I had been so far from believing I would be organizing and
speechifying again that I had even named my feline Emma Goldcat. A memorial to my heroine and to the days when I
saw myself as a modern Emma, raising consciousness and organizing. I expected it to be a memory only: I did not expect
to be doing it all again in middle age.
We sit next to these 20-year-olds feeling a mixture of pride and sorrow. Proud and sorry to look so appropriate for our
professional personas--physician Anne, advertising executive Marcia. Proud that we have opened doors that were closed
to our mothers, sorry that, having passed through those doors we have so little time to challenge new barriers. Proud to
have been leaders in a progressive struggle; sorry to have been pushed back to a past that gave men rights over our bodies and our lives that should always be ours. Proud to have been instrumental in a historical change; sorry to be confronting forces we though we had vanquished.
We've not come full circle, of course; history is a spiral that doesn't repeat exactly. This time the struggle is to protect a
freedom long since won. But it's as though they wanted to rescind our right to vote or remove the freedom to marry
whom we choose or divorce when we must.
It was over! I want to shout. My closest childhood and young adult friend, whose abortion on her dining room table by an
immigrant woman with no sterilization and the crudest of instruments, whose experience was paramount in activating me
on this issue, is already dead. Why do I have to fight for her life again? I have thanked God and our women warriors that
my *C27 Own daughter, when she had to have an abortion, could go to a physician, be given anesthetics and pain killers,
could survive it with minimal trauma, remembering Sue, who had an abortion by a sadist doctor who refused her all analgesia insisting that she feel every thrust of the knife. She deserved the pain, he thought, moralizing even as he took her
$500 -- in small bills. But we are being threatened again. My own perimenopausal, sterilized body is not in jeopardy, but
they are trying to force our daughters to return to butchers; they want total reproductive control, insisting that we carry
unwanted fetuses to term and raise unwanted babies without public money or child care centers. If they have their way,
we will have to do without contraception because after all every ovum is a potential baby.
So here we are again, coerced from complacency, aging warriors whose weapons are our emotions and our history. I
want to write this as a funny piece, because there is considerable humor in our being old radicals meeting with a new
generation of movers and doers. The vision of us--well-coiffed and manicured, wrapped in cashmere and silk, carrying
calendars that read meeting with marketing V-P and grand rounds presentation instead of grand jury demo and
strategy meeting, coming here in an Alfa Romeo instead of a battered old Volvo-- has more than a touch of humor.
I'm going to have a 50th birthday in a couple of years. I should be concerned with funding my Keogh and keeping my
cholesterol below 190, not with raising money for Planned Parenthood because the Moral Majority wants them to stop
*C28 educating girls and women about contraception which might guard against unwanted pregnancies and sexually
transmitted diseases. I should be protecting my elegant fingernails, not scratching off wallpaper in tenements that we
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have fought to turn over to homeless AIDS patients and their infected babies. I want to kvetch about my stiffening knees,
not sit at malls asking stranger to sign petitions saying they want to keep the right to choose their life directions by themselves, without government intervention.
I am an aging radical and I want to age gracefully, not on the front lines of more battles against fascist control. I want to
enjoy my limited affluence, not spend my evenings planning how to protect us from the reactionaries who are moving to
abolish freedom of choice in all aspects of our private lives; who want to take over our wombs and bodily fluids (they
want access even to our urine, to make sure we smoke only legal toxins and nothing natural); who want to reduce our art
to objects of consumption (how else can we view their permitting Ted Turner to tamper with copyrighted films?); who
want to own language (how else can we understand the Newspeak of the 1980's?). And they are succeeding. So, here I
am in my cashmere sweater, driving my Alfa Romeo to one more demonstration, sitting in one more strategy meeting,
planning one more speech in favor of liberty and justice for all.
[The writer] presides over an agency in ... that produces medical education and promotional programs. She used to think
liberals weren't progressive enough; now *C29 she sees them as another endangered species.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-172
I offer the following experiences as my personal reasons why I am in favor of Pro-Choice:
When I was six years old, I was forced to endure a 40 mile trip to what was referred to as Feather Annie's. I stayed in
the car with my father and two brothers while my 41 year old mother went inside the private residence. My father's serious attitude instilled fear and insecurity in my older brother and I. When my mother returned to the car she was crying.
She repeated the words I'm afraid I'll die-I'm afraid someone will find out I came here and I'll get her (referring to the
woman who performed the abortion) in trouble with the law. I'm glad it's over, but I'm afraid - if I die, what will happen
to the children? It was an awful experience for a child who was too young to understand. All the way home she cried
and repeated over and over her fear of dying. I do not remember of her expressing any regret, she expressed her relief
that it was over. Her fears became contagious and needless to say it was traumatic for me and my older brother (one
brother was less than 2 years old). Many years later when my brother and I recalled that day, we agreed that the only
crime committed was by a society that forced a woman to have to submit herself to fear and agony of that magnitude.
Our mother survived and imbued in us forever was our sympathy for her on that day. After all, she had already born six
children, she was in poor health, and *C30 my father was unemployed in that year of 1936.
My mother told me that it was a terrible tragedy that the little 2 year old neighbor girl's mother died suddenly. When I
became old enough to understand I found out that it was no secret, in the small town we lived in, that the young mother
had died from a self induced abortion. As a very young child I was terribly disturbed over the fact that this dear cute little
girl had no mother for the reason that her mother had died because she didn't want to have another baby. I felt sad that
such a thing could happen, it was hard for me to accept that Jane's pretty young mother had to die. I saw sadness in
Jane's face and unhappiness was apparent in her father's behavior. I cannot justify a law that allowed such unfortunate
circumstances to happen.
In the 1950's my sister lost a good friend who had an illegal abortion. The 28 year old woman who died had five small
children. Her unplanned and unwanted pregnancy was more than she was able to handle and her untimely death was the
result of not having the choice of a safe and legal abortion. A law with the potential effect of depriving a loving husband
and five small children of the presence of a young wife and mother is a disgrace in a compassionate society.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 88
I am happy to share my testimony.

***
FRIENDS LETTER-179
I am writing to let you know that my first experience with abortion was a very grave one that left an indelible mark on
me and my commitment to the need for legal *C31 abortions performed by medically knowledgeable staff.
In 1965 I had to care for a 19 year old girl as she lay dying of infection following an illegal abortion. The fact that she
denied having had an abortion up to the time of her death and the tearful disclosure by her mother after her death underscored the fear these two people were experiencing because this was an illegal act.
Hospitals such as the one I was doing my nurses training in at the time, saw the results of desperate women who knew
there were risks, but who endured them because they felt they had no alternative.
Making abortion illegal again will not make abortion go away it will only make it unsafe again. Do you want to make
women suffer the indignity and danger of back-alley abortions or self induced abortions? Who knows how desparate a
woman faced with an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy will becan any one else profess to know what she must do?
***
FRIENDS LETTER-227
Every women should have the right to control her own body. As long as there are unwanted pregnancies there are going
to be abortions. They should be safe and legal. If abortion is made illegal, women are going to die from botched abortions. Our society can't afford to pay that price. As an adopted child I know what choice is about. I still feel that abortion
should be legal.
***
So much of the dialogue, argument, and confrontation regarding this issue, at least in the ten years during which I have
been aware of it, have seemed to take place in a vacuum of sorts. I don't use vacuum in a pejorative sense but rather as a
contrast to real life, real people. Discussion about ethics, values of life, murder, survival, hope, love, religion, poverty,
adoption, birth control, motherhood, and duty can be instructive and insightful, but those who engage in it from the perspective of anti-abortion ignore the greatest issue of all: a woman's physical, mental and spiritual integrity. Across all
the variety of contexts in which choices about abortion must be made, from urban poverty to exclusive medical clinics,
from rapes to comas, and against the range of factors from age to income which come into play, there is only one constant -- a woman's right to control her destiny. Because of chromosomal variation, a woman can get pregnant. As important and miraculous as this possibility may be, however, it cannot diminish a woman's right to assess the values and needs
attendant to her existence. In this, a woman is entitled to no less, no more than a man. Her entitlement must include the
right to make and live with choices about her body and what it may or may not do.
Life is not carried out as a controlled experiment, it's variables dictated in a predictable void, and a woman's integrity
should not be treated as if it were.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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***
Despite being male, I believe that my experiences as a counselor give me a personal perspective from which to speak on
the issue of abortion. Based on my conversations with women over many years, I believe that the most devastating effect
of rape is not the act itself, but the aftermath of nightmares, anger and self-recrimination which follow. These emotions
can last for years, and subjecting a rape victim to the additional mental agony and physical discomfort of an unwanted
pregnancy strikes me as cruel and demonstrates an extraordinary insensitivity on the part of those who would outlaw
abortion.
Other women have told me countless stories of a child born out of wedlock, the father suddenly disappearing, and a life,
fraught with financial difficulties, which become a continuous struggle with mental and emotional exhaustion, leading in
some cases to drugs, alcoholism and child abuse. Social services are already so overburdened that the meager benefits
available to these women are delivered too slowly to prevent hardship. Do we multiply the sufferings of unwilling parents and unwanted children - at great social costs-to placate noisy zealots?
Finally, anyone with eyes to read and a capable mind should know that there is division of medical and moral opinion on
the moment when life begins. When reasonable people differ on the solutions to difficult problems, toleration and compassion for opposing views seem healthier than false certainties derived from simplistic moralists. I do not advocate
abortion. I ask only that the *C34 court honor the separation of church and state on which this country was founded and
be humane and realistic enough to allow poor citizens the choice which will always be available to the rich.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-245
The Supreme Court of the United States will soon be considering cases in which they will be asked to rule on facts not in
evidence. I refer specifically to the question of when the products of conception become human.
Those who oppose a woman's right to reproductive freedom would have you believe there is only one answer to that
question. As a physician of almost twenty years experience, I submit that their response lies in faith, not Science. It is
abundantly clear that there is NO agreement in Theology or Science about when the products of conception become a human individual. To even suggest there is, is wholly inaccurate. For the court to overturn Roe. v. Wade on this issue
would be to legally endorse one religious viewpoint with the force of law. As an American, I would find the imposition
of someone else's articles of faith intolerable.
***
FRIENDS LETTER-249
My mother, who has since passed away, was born and raised in a small country town in Hungary in 1909.
When she was around 16 years old, her best friend had an abortion. It took 3 months for her to watch her friends slow
death, due to an infection which could not be treated because #1 there was no *C35 antibiotics at the time, and #2 abortion was not an acceptable practice.
My mother had an extremely difficult time accepting her friend's death. Even when I was a young woman, she would tell
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
Page 90
me how beautiful and good her friend was. Even though my mother never joined the ranks of the Feminist Movemen,
and in fact, was quite a homebody raising 3 children, she always supported the right of every woman to choose what was
best for them to do with their bodies, even though, and especially because, of her friend.
Abortion has been around for a long, long time, and will continue. I cannot even imagine the deaths that will occur at the
hands of those people who will illegally perform unsafe surgical techniques, nor can I imagine those women who will be
unable to bear children, because of botched abortions.
Our young people will not stop having sexual relations. Would anyone want an unsafe surgical procedure to happen to
their daughter? Mother? Wife?
***
FRIENDS LETTER-260
I cannot claim a personal experience with a woman who has had an abortion. However, a number or women have told me
privately that they have had abortions. Some of these would be acknowledged as therapeutic; others would not.
Partly because of the stories of these women (now that I've begun writing I remember the neighbor woman who had to
wait until an ectopic pregnancy ruptured before the doctor could help her. This was in the 1950's. Another woman told
me of the brain *C36 function damage she felt that she had received as the result of a similar situation.) I believe that
there is the need for safe, legal abortions and that they should be readily available.
Furthermore, I have always been thankful that I have lived during a time when birth control could/can be discussed,
when information and birth control products became and are openly available.
In my family there are stories of deaths due to childbirth, ruined health, fear and wrecked family relationships that could
have been prevented had birth control devices been generally available in those days.
I think that every woman (and man, too) should revere the work of Margaret Sanger.
FRIENDS LETTER-264
I am writing this letter to demonstrate my strong support of the continuation of reproductive freedom, the right to choose,
for all women. Although I have not personally had an abortion, I have had experience with two friends who made this
difficult decision and have considered the right to choose this avenue a vital one to myself as a women, to all women,
children and to families as a whole.
In the cases of my friends, one was a young girl who in today's terms was date raped but at the time of her pregnancy
was of course considered at fault. Thankfully, her family was supportive of her and, although abortion was not a legal
option at that time, were able to take her someplace where it was. This was not an act of irresponsibility but rather one of
compassion for this girl as an individual and a responsible decision regarding the *C37 future of a child in this kind of
situation. Our communities and society as a whole do not assist with child rearing in any financial, practical or emotional
way. A decision about having a child is responsible only if considerations of the future are a part of that decision.
In the case of my other friend, a decision was made between husband and wife to postpone having children. Although she
used birth control at all times, she did get pregnant. Her husband was not willing to consider a change in their decision.
In order to give her marriage every chance it had and to have children in an intact two parent family, she made the very
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.)
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difficult decision to have an abortion. Once again, rather than being an irresponsible frivolous decisions, it was one that
took a great deal of courage and concern for her future children.
For myself, reproductive freedom has meant a respect for women and has given a right that should naturally be ours.
With any right comes the hope that each individual will use it wisely. However, there is a wide continuum of wisely
and there is also no power so supreme that it or they know what wise use of a right is for any individual. Although I have
not had to make the decision to have an abortion, I was prepared to if I had gotten pregnant after my husband and I had
decided against having more children. It would not have been an easy decision, but most life decisions are not easy. It
would, however, have been the best decision for myself and my entire family. I should have the right to that decision
since I have the sole responsibility for any child born to me.
*C38 Under reproductive freedom, no one is determining the path of another. It is the freedom to choose, to have the
varied options available that is the key. No one can guarantee anyone else's actions and choices but neither does anyone
take responsibility for the consequences for someone else's choices. We each make our own choices and live with the
consequences of them.
I hope this issue is considered with the greatest of seriousness. We are speaking to the heart of the freedoms that this
country stands for and the hope that the women and children of this country are given the respect that they, as well as
every other individual, deserve.
***
William L. WEBSTER, et al., Appellants, v. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES, et al., Appellees.
1989 WL 1115239 (U.S. ) (Appellate Brief )
END OF DOCUMENT

Webster V Reproductive Health Services

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1989 WL 1115239 (U.S.

For Opinion See 109 S.Ct. 3040 , 109 S.Ct. 780

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Gyn. 101 (1973) ... 55

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As these women recall,

FN10. H. Morgentaler, Abortion and Contraception 110-11 (1982).

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leagalized [sic] abortion at a local hospital. This was in 1960.

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The pain of giving a child up for adoption can be

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is vital; without that option, other

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*65 Respectfully submitted,

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