Wednesday, November 12, 2008

1952: Abortion turns fatal for Illinois woman

On November 12, 1952, Isabell Cuda died, leaving behind a husband and a minor child. She had been ill since November 3, when she had gone to the home of Mary Murawsky in Rockford, Illinois, for an illegal abortion. Mary was neither licensed nor qualified to practice medicine. Murawsky used some sort of instrument on Isabell.

Isabell's abortion was unusual in that it was performed by an amateur, rather than by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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2 comments:

Joe said...

I would strongly urge you to say that Mary Murawsky, or whoever the criminal abortionist was, "committed" rather than "performed" an abortion.

It is a crime and should be treated as such and the language we use should reflect our understanding of that fact.

Also call it an "abortion crime" rather than just an "abortion" for the same reason. Referring to it as the "killing of an unborn child" or the "killing of a human being in the unborn stage" might be even better, as this clearly shows that we are dealing here with the criminal destruction of human life.

Referring only to "performing abortions" sounds too clinical and does not really get across to people the full horror and inhumanity of this violent crime.

Also, I am trying to get people in this movement to refer to the so-called "Freedom Of Choice Act" as the "Killing Unborn Children Act", since that is essentially what it is. Would you be willing to consider calling it that if you by chance refer to it? I believe we cannot fight this fight effectively
by using the drivel and doublespeak favored by our opponents. It isn't about "freedom" or "choice", it is about "killing".

Finally, we must realize the elections are not over yet (no, not yet). Saxby Chambliss is in a runoff on December 2 to keep his Senate seat in Georgia. This is a Senate seat which the unborn human rights movement MUST hold. We CANNOT afford to lose any more Senate seats.

Would you urge your readers in Georgia to get out there and work for and vote for the reelection of Saxby Chambliss to the Senate?

Christina Dunigan said...

First, Joe, I try to vary the wording from post to post to attract different searchers.

Second, I want to provoke thought, not defensiveness, from prochoicers, so I usually (sometimes I"m in a bad mood) try to use fairly neutral language as much as possible so that they'll not let the tone convince them that the facts aren't true.