Forgive Me If This Question Offends Anyone - But During Jim Crow Times If A White Woman Was Raped...

[global1]

by a black man - was the white women allowed to get an abortion?

What I'm trying to establish is - was abortion allowed at this time in the history of this country?

Does some historian here know this answer?

[QED]

1. Michael Beschloss posted this:

Link to tweet

?t=P337YfPbzPnOPDFDlf-oeA&s=19

[LeftInTX]

4. That's Nixon's personal opinion and it was made shortly after Roe V Wade

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Another way to ask this is pre Roe, which states had actual laws against abortion?

When did those laws get on the books, etc.

[hlthe2b]

3. Before Roe. abortion was illegal in 30 states and legal under limited circumstances in 20. Women had

to travel to gain access if they qualified.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States

[allegorical oracle]

9. Prior to Roe, I paid for a friend to fly her 14 yo daughter to NYC from Fla to have an abortion. The

girl had been slick-talked into sex by a guy in his 20s.

[LeftInTX]

5. It was probably a "wink and a nod" miscarriage

A doctor could take care of a unwanted pregnancy under the guise of a "miscarriage"

Medical records were not as stringent as today.

Just scribble some notes. Doctors could perform procedures without nurses in attendance back then.

[Ms. Toad]

11. And - without nurses in attendance,

Doctors sometimes traded/coerced sexual favors from women in exchange for abortions.

After all, in that era anyone unmarried and pregnant was seen as a slut. Probably even moreso if you were a white woman pregnant with a black man's child. And - if you're getting an illegal abortion, who are you going to tell about the doctor raping you?

[Samrob]

14. Or a legal D&C for the wealthy. nt

[mitch96]

16. "It was probably a "wink and a nod". At the first hospital I trained at it was a "D&C" operation

A dilation and curettage procedure could and would be an abortion.
I was in the OR taking some radiographs and heard a commotion in the next OR suit.
Apparently this OBGYN doc was doing a D&C on this woman and the anesthesiologist found out it was a D&C/abortion and tried to physically stop him from finishing the procedure.
The OB doc in his sterile gown and gloves spun the anesthesiologist around and punched him square in the jaw and knocked him out cold! He finished the procedure, took her out of anesthesia and walked out of the hospital never to return.. This was a big deal as it was a Catholic hospital.. Gossip for weeks!!!
m

[LeftInTX]

17. OMG!

[mitch96]

18. Yup, I was a first year student wondering what the hell I got my self into..

Never looked back and spent 42 years in the profession... And yes...
Doctors get away with lots of stuff. I've got some STORIES!!!!
m

[allegorical oracle]

6. Prolly depended on where the crime occurred. Up north, maybe. In the south, it would depend on who

the victim was. The offender was a dead guy walking.

My aunt, who was married to a physician, told my mom that doctors' wives could have an abortion anytime -- the case up until Roe. The procedure was simply called a "D and C" to clear up uterine fibroid tumors.

[LeftInTX]

7. Yes

[keithbvadu2]

8. Now, to republicans, the offender is a 'parent' with rights.

Now, to republicans, the offender is a 'parent' with rights.

[Cerridwen]

10. rich white women or poor white women (there was no middle class to speak of)

a rich white woman who could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was a virgin (before the rape) or that she had not invited it upon herself could be shipped off to europe where no one had heard of her shame and the shame she brought to the family.

a poor white woman who could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was a virgin (before the rape) or that she had not invited it upon herself could/would/may be beat as damaged goods; perhaps sent to family in other states to serve the family; or, thrown out, into the streets so that she didn't bring anymore shame to the family.

a black many would be lynched. a rich white man could probably get away with it; a poor white man could blame the girl/woman.

generally speaking.

[LeftInTX]

12. Doctors would perform abortions under the guise of a "D & C"

Nowadays, record keeping is too stringent.

[Cerridwen]

15. if they had the money and/or connections

and then they were shipped off with or without being beaten for the shame of it

when I was growing up girls who were raped would wind up in juvenile detention facilities or "schools" for "delinquent girls and women." much depended on the girls'/women's class and city/county/town, etc. (assuming they reported the rape in the first place)

that was the 1960s and 1970s.

[Demsrule86]

13. No, and in the South they would as soon as kill her as tell anyone...(my family is from the South).

A wealthy girl would be sent away and the baby adopted...although I have heard dark stories of infanticide. A poor girl would usually end up at the budget abortionist or be sent to one of those homes where decades later they found both women and baby skeletons.

[Xolodno]

19. I believe a lot of those accusations were false.

And there was no rape. Just an excuse to "exert capital punishment" by mob from time to time.

[Hekate]

20. My whole life when it was illegal, there were 3 exceptions:rape, incest, life & health of the mother

That was understood to be right and righteous. See? We’re not heartless. We don’t actually want to kill womenfolk for things they have no control over.

It was hard to prove those things, and beyond reporting rape or incest to the police right on the spot ( ha. ha. ha. ) — and proving it ( ha. ha. ha. ) — well never mind.

“Life and health of the mother” had a bit about the woman’s mental and emotional well-being — basically she had to go before a panel of doctors and prove her case. Physically was probably easier to prove, and presumably her own doc would be on her side as she lay in bed with eclampsia.

Then there was the flip side to the prohibitions and permissions. #1 Daddy or hubby is rich and well-connected. Problem solved. #2 Be Catholic and bear your cross even if you die.

#2 was the reason Protestants didn’t ever trust Catholic hospitals for women.

There ya go.

Nixon, by the way, was a man of his time regarding rape and miscegenation.

One more word: as the red states have gone on their merry way to making abortion a hanging offense, so to speak, one thing that has forcibly struck me is the lack of any exceptions. See? They are truly heartless.

Bitterly,
Hekate