Fifty years and two days ago women were finally given control over their own bodies. No longer could the state interfere with women who needed to make decisions about their reproductive lives. Before then, however, in many states even helping a woman procure an abortion was illegal. It was illegal in Connecticut where I lived at the time.
Women with health insurance could have a procedure called D&C for dilation and curettage, a process of scraping the inside of the uterus to remove tissue, usually for a medical reason other than aborting a fetus. The poor, however, had to seek abortions. New Haven had a clinic staffed by medical professionals for precisely that purpose.
A friend of mine became pregnant and knew she could not carry that pregnancy to term. She did not have the medical insurance for the D&C so she needed the clinic. I thought about the consequences of helping her procure a procedure that was illegal. I drove her to the clinic and sat with her through recovery. I believe I did the right thing.
That day I saw a woman in her 40s on her eighth pregnancy. Although because it was an ectopic pregnancy, she could have died but the law at that time did not care. Where will poor women be when the Supreme Court rules on abortion restrictions in this time?
Prayer for the Day
In humility we come to you, Lord God, to seek your face,
For yours is a face of compassion and understanding;
In hope we call on you, Gracious One, to find your calming strength,
For your heart embraces us into your being and grants us your peace.
Grant, most merciful God, that we find your guidance and wisdom
In times of difficulty and despair, so often difficult to overcome.
In the name of the One who is your face of compassion,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backward.
- e.e. cummings, poet (1894-1962)
The hardest thing about the road not taken is that you never know where it might have led.
- Lisa Wingate, American journalist and writer
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness;
Answer me in your righteousness.
Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
Psalm 143: 1-2