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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

New illegal deaths added to Cemetery of Choice

I've been doing online research in historic newspaper archives, and have added the first batch of pre-legalization abortion deaths from this research to the Cemetery of Choice:

  • ALEXANDER, MRS DORIS
  • ANDERSON, MARTHA WILMA RHODES
  • BARNARD, MRS. CATHERINE L
  • CONGDON, MRS. NAOMI
  • CROW, MRS. GOLDIE
  • DANKS, MRS. ROBERTA SHIRLEY
  • HAUGHT, MRS. RUTH
  • HELLMAN, ELIZABETH “Betty” BARBARA
  • JONES, MRS. DORIS
  • LEGGE, MARY ELLEN
  • MCGILL, GEORGIA MARIE
  • MILLS, MARIAN
  • OSTREICHER, DORIS JEAN MRS.
  • PAGE, MRS. MARY ANN MARIA
  • SKAINS, OZELIA
  • SUDIK, MARY MRS.
  • WILLIAMS, MRS ADA
  • WILLIAMS, MISS MERL



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

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    Something interesting I've noticed as I plough through the archives is that as the 1960's approach, the death stories start to dry up, and are replaced by calls for the repeal of abortion laws. Why the sudden change? Two words: Thalidomide. Reubella.

    Suddenly abortion wasn't the horror -- disabled babies were. And it was worth any cost to keep them from being born. And remember, this is back before prenatal testing, before ultrasound. If the mother had been exposed to something that might cause her unborn baby to be anything but the longed-for ten-fingers-ten-toes, just that risk was enough to warrant a death senence for the fetus.

    But then, "tolerance" and "diversity" weren't buzzwords yet, and this was long before the Americans with Disabilities Act, so folks might be excused for looking at disabled kids with such horror and loathing.

    What's our excuse today?
    • at

    2 comments:

    1. Anonymous8:21 PM

      My grandma contracted German measles when she was pregnant with her 5th child (probably around 1955). I'm not sure if she was counseled to have an abortion, but of course she didn't. My uncle has diabetes and hearing loss, and is infertile, but that's certainly not worth killing him over!

      That's the thing that gets me about these abortion advocates -- the groups that they target for prenatal murder, I look at as if they're putting guns to the heads of individuals, of people I know. I say, "They wanted him/her to die rather than be born. Why?"

      Kathy

      ReplyDelete
    2. Christina Dunigan8:52 PM

      Yeah, they talk the tolerance and diversity talk, but le a baby be different and they want him put to death just because his existence makes people like them uncomfortable. Live and let live, I say.

      ReplyDelete