Abortion Victims: Never Again
This image is featured on the cover page of an article titled “Never Again,” by Gloria Brandes Gratz in Ms. magazine published in April 1973, just a few months after abortion was legalized. This article tells the story of a woman from Connecticut who was having an illegal abortion performed in a motel when something went wrong and her abortionist fled the scene, leaving her to die alone.[8] This is the first article published in Ms. on abortion since its legalization and it is notable that Gratz takes a particularly sullen tone. “The woman in this photograph cannot be brought back to life, nor can the many, many women whose lives have been lost or tragically damaged in the past,” Gratz continues by saying that we must honour the victims of abortion.[9] She discusses the evolution of the abortion debate prior to legalization and places Roe within a larger context of women’s rights. She addresses Roe as a very small, yet incomplete, step in the right direction. Furthermore, she asserts various reasons as to why women would choose to have an abortion and explains why having this choice is so valuable.[10] The educational aspect of this article demonstrates that although abortion was legalized, there was much more learning and work to be done.
It is important to recognize that this source does not celebrate legal abortion and instead accepts it as a baseline legislation that must be pushed further. While in some cases abortion became more widely accessible, this was quickly diminished as the Catholic Church, Conservatives, and pro-life groups suddenly took a fierce interest in abortion politics.[11] Many of these feminist publications chose to use gripping images to advocate for the development of safe and legal abortions. Evidence suggests that with the 1.2 million illegal abortions, the majority of them were safe and without complications.[12] Lorraine Florio, a lay abortionist, performed 5,000 safe illegal abortions, Dr. Robert Spencer provided 75,000 safe abortions before it was legalized, and Jane, an underground abortion service, provided around 11,000 safe abortions.[13] The prerogative of women’s activist groups shifted from safe, legal abortion towards improving women’s health and reproductive rights.[14] This article demonstrates that with the legalization of abortion through Roe, there was much more work to be done and the small wins achieved through Roe were not to be celebrated until they were Constitutional changes. In relation to this research, this article shows that with the legalization of abortion, women were still not happy because this landmark legislation was less impactful than needed.