‘Abortion vs. Adoption’
It was during the days before Roe vs. Wade, and I was a sophomore in high school. I remember a high school senior. She had a steady boyfriend she planned to marry some day. And she had a minister father she feared would never understand. So when she became pregnant, she went to a woman known throughout the school who performed illegal abortions. The girl died.
I don’t see her story reflected in the article. The story provides thought-provoking information about the difficulties of adoption, which is certainly not the panacea that Bush and anti-choice activists imagine. But the real and more horrifying story would be titled, “Legal Abortion vs. Women’s Deaths.” Or maybe, “Legal Abortion vs. Poor Women’s Deaths.”
After all, the wealthy will always be able to find competent doctors willing to break the law for a price; the poor and the young will head for the back-alley butchers.
JULIE CHARLIP
Los Angeles
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