by Jane (June 1973)
Parts 1 2
3 4
5 6
Part I
A
few weeks ago, reaction set in when the Illinois Senate passed a bill
that would restrict all abortions to licensed doctors working in licensed
medical facilities. Proponents of the bill cite the results of Friendship
Clinic on the far Southside—two deaths in two months—as
support for their position.
At the
same time, licensed medical facilities and doctors are failing to
respond to the demand for abortions (Cook County Hospital does only
18 per week and few hospitals do more), forcing women back to black-market
abortions and putting dangerous strain on facilities such as Friendship
Clinic.
Doctors
here have not published their abortion statistics, but more than
likely they are no better than those of Friendship Clinic.
In four
years of extensive dealing with licensed gynecologists and hospital
obstetric wards, we found that many are archaic in their medical
treatments and downright disgusting in their attitudes towards women,
abortion and childbearing.
If anything,
the law and the medical system should encourage the opening of clinics
and the training of female paramedics to meet the crying needs of
women in our society.
We were
members of a Chicago women’s organization that proved by four
years experience that included performing more than 12,000 illegal
abortions that abortions can be performed safely, humanely and very
inexpensively by nonprofessional paramedics working under often primitive
conditions.
In spite
of the fact that the women who came through our abortion service
were largely women who had nowhere else to go—too far pregnant, too
poor, too young, too oppressed, too sick, too alone; and in spite
of having to work under incredible stress, with inadequate facilities
and no cloak of legitimacy to protect us, our medical results over
four years compare favorably with the results of licensed medical
facilities in New York and California.
Our group
had its foundations in women’s liberation. Our view was that
all women are equals and peers; there was no hierarchical “Professional”
relationship between counselor and patient—nor among counselors
regardless of their responsibilities. We worked with, not on, the
pregnant women who came through the service.
Counselor,
patient or paramedic—we were all partners in the crime of demanding
the freedom to control our own bodies and our own childbearing.
During
the four years the service was functioning, we dealt repeatedly with
the police and with the Mafia, we discovered highly respected doctors
secretly on the take, we clashed with gun-wielding extortionists
and with butcher abortionists.
But we
also discovered warmth, humanity and assistance in the most unexpected
places.
We learned
to buy medical instruments and drugs in the black market; and we
also learned that drugs were often unnecessary—mutual understanding,
compassion and trust between the patient and the service were more
effective pain preventers.
We all—patients
and counselors— learned about how our own bodies work. We learned
how the bureaucratic and money-oriented medical system, in partnership
with the law, works to control the bodies and neglect the needs of
women.
We believed
in life and we dealt with death—and with all manner of religious
and political rhetoric in-between.
Is a fetus
a person? Is abortion murder? If so, when does it become murder?
Two days? Six months?
We heard
the views of Catholic priests and right-to-lifers, and the calculating
statistics of population fanatics. Black revolutionaries accused
us of genocide, while weary black women pleaded for ‘‘no more
kids!’’
We could
never resolve the contradictions, but we held fast to the political
principle that freedom of choice for the living woman was our first
priority.
During
the first 18 months, the responsibilities of the women in the service
evolved from counseling and referring, then to medically assisting
established abortionists and finally to doing the entire procedure.
During that time, the average charge dropped from more than $400
to less than $100.
We learned
to give shots, to take blood pressure, to take and read pap smears
for cancer. We performed abortions on pregnant 11-year-olds and on
pregnant 50-year-olds.
We learned
to do a D and C—standard dilation-and-curettage—and to use
a vacuum aspirator for the operation.
We learned
to induce a miscarriage for women 15 weeks or more pregnant. When
we learned that hospitals would turn away a woman in induced labor—or
turn her over to the police—we set up our own midwife service,
so that women who were induced wouldn’t have the additional hassle
of hospitals and police.
We learned
from similar experiences in our political pasts, from books and doctors
and drug circulars, from the Clergy Consultation Service, which had
been doing counseling and making abortion referrals for several months,
and from identifying and understanding feelings in our own bodies
and then trying to relate them to another woman’s problems and
feelings.
We learned
a great deal from a male abortionist with whom we had a very close,
painfully contradictory relationship that evolved over several years.
And we
learned by trial and error— plunging in with brazen daring when
there seemed to be no other alternatives for our sisters or ourselves.
Experience
taught us that good counseling, not medical mechanics, was by far
the most important aspect of the service.
Whether
a woman was to have an abortion in a hotel room or in a clinic, whether
it was to be done by a man or woman, whether it was to be done direct
or by induced miscarriage, the whole experience would be infinitely
better if she was prepared for it—intellectually, physically
and emotionally-and if she knew she could depend upon her counselor
for understanding and support.
On the
other hand, careful counseling served as a screening process to protect
the service. Individual counseling could pick up the unreconcilable
doubts and guilt, the religious conflicts, the boyfriend or parents
who were forcing the issue—all of which led to both physical
and emotional problems afterwards
The object
of counseling was to make abortion available, but never to promote
abortion; to provide the woman with an alternative, and then to give
her support, whatever her choice.
The abortion
counseling service was organized in 1969 by a small group of women
who had been active in local radical politics and wanted to work
In the then infant women’s liberation movement.
At first
we had doubts about abortion as a women’s organizing issue—too
unpopular, too illegal, too dangerous and too politically ambiguous.
But several
women who had been doing informal abortion counseling and referral
for several years convinced us of the political value and the practical
need for an organized underground abortion service.
We spent
two months meeting and talking. Four years ago, the climate surrounding
abortion was very different than today. We wanted to understand our
own feelings about it before we began counseling other women.
Several
of us had abortions, several of us had children, one of us had
been trying for years to become pregnant, several intended to remain
childless.
We discussed
our views on marriage, on family, on freedom of choice. We tried
to build a political theory that would tie the issue of abortion
solidly to the issues of women’s liberation.
Women
in our society were caught in a three-way trap; social pressures
to be glamorous and available, moral and economic stigmas against
unwanted pregnancies and "illegimate" children, and legal and religious
taboos against abortion.
Our political
goal became to provide a positive alternative-and in the process
to organize women to fight for their own rights.
We discussed
the compromises and tensions that would be involved in working
with established illegal abortionists, most of whom were male,
and all of whom were in It for the money. These mysterious and
anonymous men came well referred, and they all claimed to be a
doctors, but we had doubts.
The
medical profession portrayed them as incompetent butchers who punctured
uteruses, caused hemorrhages and infections, and then left their poor
victims emotional wrecks after taking their life savings.
We
had no experience to separate myth from fact.
We
discussed at length how we would deal with various medical problems
should they occur (oh, our innocence!), and whether we believed enough
in our undertaking to accept responsibility for drastic consequences—such
as death of a patient or jail for ourselves.
We
set out an outline for counseling and practiced with each other.
We composed a four-page flyer to be used as a counseling aid and
a way of advertising the service.
The
brochure briefly covered the political purposes of the service, the
reasons why illegality made abortion so expensive, and a physical
description of abortion and possible side-effects. It closed with
a few punchy paragraphs on a woman’s right to determine her own
childbearing.
The
brochure became a classic piece that, with minor changes, remained
relevant throughout the years.
Word
of mouth was to be the medium for advertising the service. We announced
its existence at select meetings and we distributed the brochure
to sisters in the movement.
The
quick response was testimony to the need.
The
exorbitant cost of abortion presented the toughest problems. Going
rates were well upwards of $500, and that was for a cloak-and-dagger
style abortion— women being picked up and dropped off at street
corners with no advance counseling and no follow-up.
Could
we morally collect $500 from a sister-in-need and then pass it on
to the man? Did we become partners to the economic crime or were
we making it easier for the woman by providing connections, counseling
and security?
Somehow
the service would have to bring the price down in order to help women
without money.
At
one point a friend of the group suggested that we could drop prices
by learning to do the abortions ourselves. We were shocked at the
suggestion. We were too brainwashed by the medical mystique to have
any conception of the paramedic.
We
decided to get started in the existing market, and to deal with dropping
the price when the opportunity d arose. In addition, we would ask
for contributions of $25 from every woman who could pay in full ,
and try to build up an abortion loan fund.
The
goal of making abortions available to all women, regardless of ability
to pay, was to consume enormous amounts of energy and cause major
headaches over the years.
It
also proved a major impetus for change and progress in the activities
and politics of the service.
And
it was a major factor in choosing which abortionists we could begin
to work with—and continue to work with over the years.
“Jane”
was the pseudonym we chose to represent the service. A phone was opened
in her name and an answering service secured, later replaced by a
tape recorder. Jane kept all records and served as control/central.
For
four years, Jane kept the same phone number—643-3844. At first
she received only eight to ten calls a week. A year later she was
receiving well more than 100 calls a week.
All
phoned in messages were returned the same day: “Hello, Marcia?
This Jane from women’s liberation returning your call. We can’t
talk freely over the phone, but I want you to know that we can help
you.”
Then
Jane would refer the name to a counselor, who would meet personally
with the woman and talk with her at length about available alternatives.
The
counselor would also help the woman arrange finances and, whenever
possible, collect a $25 donation for the service loan fund. The counseling
session was also a screening process for detecting conflicts and
potential legal threats.
If
the woman chose the alternative of abortion, the counselor would
turn the information over to another counselor who was handling doctor
contacts for the week. She, in turn, would make specific arrangements
with the abortionist.
The
abortionists all insisted at first on dealing independently with
the woman, as far as setting a meeting place and collecting money.
They didn’t trust us and we didn’t trust them.
But
such factors became negotiating issues in deciding which of them
we would work with.
When
a woman is looking for an illegal abortionist, she doesn’t just
check the Yellow Pages under A.
Our
original contacts with abortionists came by word of mouth. One was
recommended by Clergy Consultation, two had been used by the women
who did pre-service counseling, several were recommended by other
women who had used them—and some contacted us soliciting our
business.
They
each wanted the most possible money, the greatest possible anonymity
and the fewest possible problems. They each also wanted the greatest
possible freedom of action and the most possible freedom from responsibility.
They all preferred to be called “doctor.”
Aside
from these standard features, are they each had their good points
and their bad points. From our vantage point, it was a matter of
choosing the combination of least evils. One price of our purpose
was to tie ourselves and other women who put their trust in us to
these strange bedfellows whose purpose was so different from ours.
One
of the things we soon learned was that the syndicate had recently
become aware of the profits in black market abortions, and had obtained
a piece of the action.
Most
of the abortionists that we dealt with paid hundreds of dollars each
week for police protection. Those who didn’t pay ended up spending
even more to buy their way out of an abortion conviction by greasing
the criminal justice system.
We
made it clear from the outset that - that we would never pay money
directly to the outfit and, to the extent that we had a choice, would
not work with abortionists who did. We decided that, after certain
health and safety factors were guaranteed, we would opt for the situation
that gave us the most control.
It
was a hard choice.
Take
Doctor Number 1: He works in a nearby suburb in a nice, clean hi-rise
apartment. He charges $500 per case, but will take $400 per case
if we guarantee a certain number of cases each week. Women who have
gone to him say he’s pleasant enough, his medical reputation as an
abortionist is good, and he works with a woman assistant.
However,
he will only take cases 10 weeks and under. In addition, since he
only works in one place, he has to conceal its whereabouts from the
patients. This means women will be picked up at a bus-stop and driven
in a roundabout -fashion to the building. Black and Spanish women
are especially conspicuous in this neighborhood.
But
most important. we can never contact him in person. All our contact
with him has to be through a middle-woman, and then only on the phone.
This meant we had no place to call to check on a particular patient
or to get help with a problem. It also meant there was no way of
negotiating directly in regard to money in special cases. It meant
that control was low and learning possibilities were few.
We
did not totally reject Doctor 1. We described the situation and made
it available for women who preferred that alternative. We had few
complaints and few problems, but then few women went there.
Doctor
Number 2 works out of his West Side medical offices. He must pay
police protection, because his name is right on the door. Medical
conditions seem good, but he has several times become drunk in front
of patients and reportedly made sexual favors a condition of the
abortion.
"Here’s
my offer" says Doctor Number 3. "We’ll keep the price
at $500, but if a woman really can’t afford to pay, we’ll
do her for free."
“Come
down to $400 base, and we’ll skip the free ones,” we countered.
“That
wouldn’t be fair. An abortion is worth $500 and I deserve it.
But how does this sound: We’ll keep the price at $500, do an
occasional free one, and if you have a special deal on a special case,
we’ll make an exception. But we want to be able to charge more
for the ones that are 12 weeks or more.”
Doctor
Number 3 will do abortions direct up to 13 weeks, and will induce
miscarriage in long-term pregnancies. He would prefer to go to a
woman’s
house to perform the abortion, but also works in motel rooms. He says
that motel rooms are a clean, safe place to work, and it is better
for a woman to have her own room where she can rest than for her to
have to get up and out right away. It sounds reasonable. He also works
with a woman.
We
have reservations about the medical competence of Doctor 3, because
we have heard that a D&C can’t be done after 10 weeks, and
because we know nothing about induced miscarriages.
He
says that know-how is the key, and he would be happy to explain the
procedure to us or answer any questions we have. But he’ll only
talk to one person at a time. Three makes a conspiracy. He warns us
that we should never talk to the police.
Doctor
3 seems a little slick and overbearing, but more flexible than the
others, and more willing to seek mutually satisfactory ground. More
of him later.
Doctor
Number 4 was foreign-born and educated, and claimed he had a unique
European technique that was painless and much safer. He came highly
recommended by a local physician’s receptionist, who said she
had used him twice. He agreed to do abortions up to 12 weeks for only
$150 a piece.
At
this point, on the one-month anniversary of the opening of the service,
there were a number of women waiting who couldn’t scrape together
the money. The loan fund was empty. And two women were eager to give
this new doctor a try, even though he was an unknown.
The
first case turned out fine. The second, a young black woman, wound
up in the hospital with a lacerated cervix, and her black revolutionary
parents and friends wanted the blood of the Nazi who did it.
The
police were interrogating the woman and her family, and the infant
service was already in trouble. It was saved partly by the intervention
of a young black civil rights worker who kept the peace for a week
and convinced the parents not to talk, but it was mainly saved by
the woman’s full recovery.
It
was with Doctor Number 3, however, that we ultimately established
our closest relationship. While we were involved in thousands of
abortions with him, we all learned basic medical skills of assisting.
A
number of us also learned to perform abortions.
When
women in the service became able to provide all services from counseling
to midwifing induced abortions, we reached a new stage of autonomy
and a new level of politics. Our first move was to drop the price,
and the bottom fell out of the abortion black market.
But
learning and becoming self- sufficient was not an overnight process.
While the abortionist was still taking responsibility for medical
procedures, we were learning other skills: how to deal with doctors
and hospitals, how to talk to the police, how to buy drugs and
instruments, how to counsel more effectively, how to recruit and
train new counselors, and how to maintain democracy, efficiency
and sisterhood among a group of women who worked together under
incredible stresses.
To Part II
