8.
Fridav. April 16, 1976
University Daily Kansan
Abortion: 3 women who have been through it speak
By BILL SNIFFEN
Staff Writer
Editor's note: The following are excerpts from interviews with three unmarried women who have had abortions. The three women volunteered to be interviewed. They don't constitute a representative sample of the women volunteered; volunteers tend to be more outspoken.
The names of the three women weren't obtained from the dean of women's office or the KU Medical Center. Their policies are to not leave patients alone, they have had abortions strictly confidential.
The names of the interiewees aren't their real names. Elaine had her abortion at Douglas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., in 2012 and gave birth to three months pregnant. It cost $150.
Aneh had her abortion in December 1972, when she was 20-years-old at the Reproduction Clinic in New York. She was four-months pregnant. It cost $25.
Sara had a menstrual extraction (an abortion in early early stages of pregnancy) in October 1973. She was 21 years-old at the time and she had no child. She had her baby abortion at the Med Center.
Q. Why did you have an abortion?
Elaine: Because I was in such a horrible mental state, in a state of depression, that I knew it was something I simply could not go
through. I just could not see bringing a child into the world, that was, totally unwanted.
Anne: I wasn't married and had no desire, to have a child. The man had no desire to be a father. I had just dropped out of school. I went back to school two years later. If I had had that child, it would've presented unbelievable problems to me.
Sara: Because I was in school, because I had no money to support a child, because I wasn't sure the (man) was the one I wanted to marry.
Q. What would you have done if abortions had been illegal?
Sara: I can't imagine the situation.
Anne: I would've gone somewhere. I would've gone to Mexico, to Puerto Rico. I would've done something. I had no intention of carrying the child full-term. Despite the physical risks. The thought never crossed my mind that I would have the child.
Elaine: God, I don't know. I think in the state of mind I was in, I probably would've tried killing myself. I didn't feel I could go to my parents.
Q Do you ever have second thoughts about having your abortion?
make me feel bad at all. I am so thankful I was able to get one. It was only and because I was able to do it.
Sara: No, not at all.
Elaine: The only thing that made me feel bad about the whole thing was that my personal relationships were so bad. I felt totally alone. Having the abortion didn't
Anne: I imagine how old that child would be. Anne: I imagine every six months or so, it means no more than two years of reality, in any way, shape, or form; except as something to get rid of. It was an obstacle
9. Is abortion morally right?
Ame: Sure. I don't mean to sound harsh.
The child hadn't been planned. The child wasn't wanted. The child had no right to exist.
Sara: I don't think it's immoral. I have totally different feelings after the 12th week of pregnancy though. The woman should make up her mind by then.
Q. What was your partner's reaction?
Sara: We hadn't talked about / having an abortion before. We considered all options.
We reached a decision both of us were satisfied with.
Anne: 'The same as mine. He was sympathetic to my feelings and he was concerned about the way I was reacting, but he was also willing; an abortion was the only alternative.'
Q. What would you tell someone in the same situation you were in?
Anne: If she didn't want the child, I would
tell her to contact a place where she could have an abortion.
Sara: I think they ought to talk to the other person involved; to friends they are close to. I think they ought to talk to themselves and start getting into what their lives are like, so that opportunities are open to them; which possibilities are realistic and which ones aren't.
Q. Would you have another abortion?
Elaine: Yes, I would.
uncomfortable place to be. The majority of women who become pregnant who didn't want to—it's not because they were irresponsible.
Sara: I don't know. It's totally different speaking for the rights of others and facing it emotionally yourself. When it becomes a personal decision, it takes on new dimensions. I don't think for anyone it's an easy decision to make.
Q. Wouldn't it have been better never to have got pregnant in the first place?
Sara: I'm concerned that people feel that people who have abortions haven't taken the responsibility beforehand—i.e., contraceptives. I have taken all precautions.
that I can take. I can't take birth control pills and I can't have an I.U.D. (Intrauterine device) put in. That doesn't leave me very many options. And that's a real
History ...
From page 5
physicians, dentists and faculty and staff members.
STUDENTS CONTINUED taking their first two years of medical school on the Lawrence campus until 1952 when a new hall was finished and second year studies were moved to Kansas City. Ten years later, the addition of another hall all four years were consolidated at the center. Since then other medical education programs have evolved that train and certify medical assistants, technicians and therapists.
The center has compacted its medical school program to a three-year course to allow it to teach more students.
Another step taken to expand teaching facilities was in 1972 when a part of the School of Medicine was established at Wichita State University. Last year there were 40 medical students studying in Wichita.
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