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SunSeeker

(51,550 posts)
Sat May 7, 2022, 12:09 PM May 2022

My Great-Grandpa Killed My Great-Grandma Giving Her An Abortion On Their Kitchen Table

In 1919, my 7-year-old grandmother was startled awake in the early hours by her father. “Come say goodbye to your mother,” he told her. He brought her and her siblings into the kitchen, where their mother lay dying on the kitchen table. The room, table, and her mother’s lower half were awash with her blood. This is the only memory my grandmother had of her mother. Any positive memories were shocked from her system in that moment.

My grandmother’s father killed her mother performing an illegal abortion. He was never charged with a crime. After the death of his wife, he kept his younger daughter and his young boys with him. He sent my grandmother to work as a farmhand for a relative. To him, the abortion was a necessary risk. They already had too many kids.
...
My adult child has never had sex without contraceptives. Currently, my child is wild with fear after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion indicating a plan to overturn Roe. Their health and life is too complicated to successfully manage a pregnancy or a child. This gentle soul is in a state of panic on behalf of all fertile people with uteruses. In speaking with my offspring, I had to promise that if Roe is overturned, I would form a pipeline to help people make their way to a country where abortion is legal. My kid can’t sleep for worrying about those who will fall through the cracks — those who will die due to unsafe abortions. My child knows the story of my great-grandmother.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/great-grandma-killed-illegal-abortion_n_62754440e4b046ad0d7ba081

32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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My Great-Grandpa Killed My Great-Grandma Giving Her An Abortion On Their Kitchen Table (Original Post) SunSeeker May 2022 OP
How horrifying for all involved. 3catwoman3 May 2022 #1
OMG. I wonder how many more pregnant women will now be deliberately murdered by 50 Shades Of Blue May 2022 #2
Indeed. It's horrifying. nt SunSeeker May 2022 #3
My fear also pandr32 May 2022 #4
GOP voters will still elect them from jail IronLionZion May 2022 #5
Yep. Delphinus May 2022 #7
Wife murdering doesn't conflict with pro-life family values IronLionZion May 2022 #8
it will be substantial NJCher May 2022 #9
There's an entire genre of folk songs about that. yardwork May 2022 #10
The larges cause of death for pregnant women is already murder Warpy May 2022 #11
This and other things with the terroristic far right in this country makes me wish that I had the cstanleytech May 2022 #6
Yeah, the filthy rich make sure you can't escape Farmer-Rick May 2022 #13
Yup most of the developed countries like Ireland and New Zealand don't want Americans unless we have cstanleytech May 2022 #16
Look at JobsUSA, frequently, to see what's available. stollen May 2022 #18
I wish I had the means to make huge donations ShazzieB May 2022 #14
Be careful what you wish for. There are ways and places in the U.S. to be safe and reasonably free housecat May 2022 #28
You sure he did the deed? Warpy May 2022 #12
Have you seen death certificates? stollen May 2022 #17
No. Promintent women always died of heart failure Warpy May 2022 #19
Wow there's a dissertation or book project. housecat May 2022 #27
Around 1940 my grandmother's sister had an abortion; around 1950 grandmother's daughter housecat May 2022 #15
What I've been wondering... Novara May 2022 #24
It's medieval. Women always got needed abortions without penalty other than dying! housecat May 2022 #26
I'm so sorry. area51 May 2022 #20
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m May 2022 #21
I have never visited any social media; I don't sign petitions; I donate privately; I stay away from housecat May 2022 #29
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m May 2022 #30
That's an eye opener story. I fear what's ahead Emile May 2022 #22
McConnell's plan... MiHale May 2022 #23
It's every Republican's plan. They're the forced birth party. nt SunSeeker May 2022 #25
I saw this the day you posted it, but had to wait a day to read it NickB79 May 2022 #31
It's horrific. SunSeeker May 2022 #32

50 Shades Of Blue

(9,973 posts)
2. OMG. I wonder how many more pregnant women will now be deliberately murdered by
Sat May 7, 2022, 12:40 PM
May 2022

their partners because they couldn't "get rid of it" any other way.

pandr32

(11,578 posts)
4. My fear also
Sat May 7, 2022, 01:23 PM
May 2022

Wives, partners, girlfriends, and casual sex partners.

Men too often don't want the pregnancy to come to term and have any kind of subsequent responsibility for 18 yrs.

NJCher

(35,650 posts)
9. it will be substantial
Sat May 7, 2022, 02:13 PM
May 2022

because it already happens and abortion is available. When it's not, this number will increase.

I watch a lot of true crime shows like Dateline, 20/20, etc., and this is a common cause for a murder.

yardwork

(61,588 posts)
10. There's an entire genre of folk songs about that.
Sat May 7, 2022, 02:29 PM
May 2022

It seems to have been a fairly common occurrence in the past.

Warpy

(111,240 posts)
11. The larges cause of death for pregnant women is already murder
Sat May 7, 2022, 02:34 PM
May 2022

nearly always by the man who sired it. It's hard to see how this could get much worse for pregnant women.

Oh, right, honor killings bh fathers, brothers and uncles' forced labor prisons like the Magdalene Laundries, the list does tend to go on. Women will be shamed, blamed, imprisoned, assaulted, and murdered. Men will skate away as always.



cstanleytech

(26,280 posts)
6. This and other things with the terroristic far right in this country makes me wish that I had the
Sat May 7, 2022, 01:56 PM
May 2022

financial means to leave and never come back.

Farmer-Rick

(10,154 posts)
13. Yeah, the filthy rich make sure you can't escape
Sat May 7, 2022, 02:54 PM
May 2022

I make good money off my pension and Social Security. I'm 1/4 Irish and look 100% Irish. But to move to Ireland, I still don't make enough as a retiree to be eligible for permanent residency. Yet, I live very comfortably in the US without making enough to get the hell out of this oligarchy.

People have more difficulty escaping this American oligarchy then getting over the East German wall. At least West Germany was willing to take in East German escapees.

cstanleytech

(26,280 posts)
16. Yup most of the developed countries like Ireland and New Zealand don't want Americans unless we have
Sat May 7, 2022, 04:13 PM
May 2022

a job skill and or are financially well off.
I mean hell I worry about being able to afford basic groceries and gas every week not to mention the rent and I don't have a degree in anything that would even help me get my foot in the door.

ShazzieB

(16,357 posts)
14. I wish I had the means to make huge donations
Sat May 7, 2022, 03:01 PM
May 2022

to entities like abortion funds, PP, and NARAL, and to all the democrats who are running for the House and Senate this fall.

As it is, I give what I can to just a few donees. I just wish I could do more.

Leaving has its appeal, though!

housecat

(3,121 posts)
28. Be careful what you wish for. There are ways and places in the U.S. to be safe and reasonably free
Sun May 8, 2022, 11:38 AM
May 2022

as long as you stay off the internet and away from crowds. Other countries may or may not be better

Warpy

(111,240 posts)
12. You sure he did the deed?
Sat May 7, 2022, 02:53 PM
May 2022

Back then, the most reliable person men could find was the local barber. The result was as you described, a hemorrhaging woman on a kitchen table, the children called in to say goodbye to their Mom.

I have to wonder about my own great grandmothers, I know two of them died fairly young and under hushed up circumstances. Another was never spoken of and the fourth managed to outlive wealthy husbands and ran her own life.

Warpy

(111,240 posts)
19. No. Promintent women always died of heart failure
Sat May 7, 2022, 09:37 PM
May 2022

or pneumonia. Nothing involving female parts was ever mentioned. Too icky.

housecat

(3,121 posts)
15. Around 1940 my grandmother's sister had an abortion; around 1950 grandmother's daughter
Sat May 7, 2022, 03:04 PM
May 2022

(my mother) had an abortion. They were called medical procedures and none of anyone's business outside of the doctor and patient. As I understood it this was fairly common, and government had no place in this absolutely personal event. It was long before Roe. What happened? Granted, these were considered middle class families with more opportunity than many others. But more than the cost, the concept had a place in our culture. It's called privacy.

Novara

(5,840 posts)
24. What I've been wondering...
Sun May 8, 2022, 08:11 AM
May 2022

... is how many people were prosecuted for abortion (doctor or woman) pre-1973. I was pretty young at the time so I don't remember hearing about a lot of prosecutions for illegal abortions. Mostly what I remember are the horror stories of women dying. But people weren't prosecuted; it was treated as a tragedy that the woman died, and everyone knew the risks. But lots of women, when forced to carry a pregnancy they don't want for a child they can't care for / don't want / can't afford, will take the risk.

I think that's all about to change. I think women will seek out "illegal" abortions and they will die and everyone will be prosecuted, even her friends who knew about it but didn't stop her. They will be prosecuted as accessories.

It isn't going to be enough for these assholes that women will die. Everyone associated with her will be prosecuted as well. Otherwise, why make vigilante laws that the SCOTUS upholds? You can see where this is heading, right?

housecat

(3,121 posts)
26. It's medieval. Women always got needed abortions without penalty other than dying!
Sun May 8, 2022, 11:31 AM
May 2022

Women in my family were fortunate, but too many were not

Response to SunSeeker (Original post)

housecat

(3,121 posts)
29. I have never visited any social media; I don't sign petitions; I donate privately; I stay away from
Sun May 8, 2022, 11:44 AM
May 2022

crowds. The last time I marched in protest was for Vietnam. I don't feel like I am missing anything, because I don't need any of the above.

Response to housecat (Reply #29)

MiHale

(9,715 posts)
23. McConnell's plan...
Sun May 8, 2022, 07:54 AM
May 2022

Is to get a NATIONAL ban on abortion if they take over in ‘22.

Here’s one link, don’t like Newsweek search it’s all over the news.

I picked the first one

https://www.newsweek.com/national-abortion-ban-possible-if-roe-v-wade-overturned-mitch-mcconnell-1704541

NickB79

(19,233 posts)
31. I saw this the day you posted it, but had to wait a day to read it
Sun May 8, 2022, 12:18 PM
May 2022

I had to work up the courage to read it.

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