My mom almost lost her life from an illegal abortion, way before abortion was legalized in 1973, back when she was a college student in the 1940s.
With Roe v. Wade overturned, I am now compelled to tell her story, to ring out the warning of the dangers of the inevitable resurgence of “back alley” (illegal) abortions.
I never knew the full story until after my mom's death, at age 65 from uterine cancer, when her lifelong friend, Nina, stepped up to share more details with me.
To her credit, my mom did tell me she had an abortion, but she chose to say nothing about the horrors of her experience. Perhaps she thought she needed to protect me.