Abortion in the Women's Health Movement
This image is attached to an article by Carol Edelson, published in Off Our Backs in April 1973, about the New Women’s Clinic. This clinic was established by two men who were sympathetic to the abortion movement, they aimed to improve the efficiency of clinics while still providing the best care.[15] This clinic was both impersonal and commercialized due to its efficient nature, but it still provided high quality service. This clinic was amongst many that opened post-Roe, Edelson references this clinic to argue that more of these clinics needed to open for abortion to be truly accessible.[16] Even after Roe, abortion remained inaccessible as many hospitals and medical institutions did not provide abortion services.[17] Some doctors were reluctant to provide abortions because of religious reasons or out of fear of public backlash.[18] This led to the establishment of many abortion services such as the Health Evaluation and Referral Service (HERS) and the Abortion and Birth Control Referral Service (ABCRS).[19] While many white women appreciated and appraised the Jane referral service, other women who were seen as outside of the movement had negative experiences. For example, one woman named Lorry was interviewed in 1992 and she explained that she felt Jane was unsanitary, illegal, and dangerous, perhaps this was because she was a woman of colour and the abortionists were white.[20] Following Roe, abortion was accessible primarily for suburban, middle-class white women but in rural and low-income areas, it still remained quite inaccessible.
After Roe, there was a lot of opposition to poor women using Medicaid to get abortions as many people felt that public money should not go towards abortion.[21] Amidst the conservative backlash, some sympathizing doctors worked to make abortion more affordable for poor women and many abortion referral services raised funds for low-income women in need of abortions.[22] These services not only referred women to safe abortion facilities, but they also provided women information about sexual reproductive health, their bodies, their rights, and encouraged them to take ownership of their sexuality. There was a big emphasis put on experiential knowledge as women relied on personal stories from other women as a foundation of knowledge on women’s health.[23] Women did not unify solely for abortion rights, instead they were advocating for a broader range of women’s health care issues and rights.[24] This article demonstrates that post-Roe, abortion was a controversial issue and served as an effective method of protest for the women’s health movement.