Abortion-A high-priced nightmare
Continued from page 1
taking the life of a fetus," she said. "I just wanted to get rid of my insides and get back to KU."
At the first appointment, Friday, the doctor scrawled notes on the back of a used envelope.
"WHEN WAS YOUR LAST normal mentruation? What day do you thing you became pregnant?"
He described the conditions necessary before he would perform the abortion—development of the fetus could not have progressed more than 87 days; his $300 fee had to be paid before the operation; the girl would have to stay with his nurse during a "crucial" 48-hour period. That would cost $40.
The process, he said, involved dilation, packing, scraping and "reconditioning" the uterus. Did she wish to proceed?
She did; the first treatment, an injection of burning antiseptic, was performed.
Saturday, the start of the 48 hours, the coed waited next to a middle-aged woman, accompanied by a man dressed like a businessman, and a high school girl from Columbia, Mo., accompanied by her father.
IN TEN MINUTES SHE WAS TREATED, packed and sent to find the nurse's home. The packing was to stay in place 48 hours, a process which would dilate the cervix but which makes gynecologists shudder.
Three other girls were at the nurse's house. One was the high school girl from Columbia, Mo.; she said her parents thought her too young to marry.
Another girl was from a junior college in Tennessee; her doctor at home had recommended the Kansas City "doctor."
None of the older women stayed at the nurse's.
THE COED STAYED AT THE NURSE'S home Saturday and Sunday nights. Monday she returned
to the "doctor's" office for the final step of the abortion.
Tuesday she was to return for a check. The "doctor" did not appear, but the nurse's brother, who holds the same lesser degree as the "doctor," examined the girl briefly and pronounced her healthy.
After her first normal menstruation, which could be anytime from a month to six weeks, no physician would ever be able to tell she had been aborted.
Today she is back in classes at KU.
IF SHE WERE A CATHOLIC, she could be excommunicated from the church, because she has violated rigid church teaching as well as civil law.
"I just try to avoid thinking about it the way you do with any nightmare," she said.
"I don't think the idea that I have had an abortion has really exploded in my mind."
Leading sire
She doesn't expect it to.
LEXINGTON, Ky.—(UPI)—Beginning in 1861, Lexington was America's leading sire for 14 years in succession.
Daily Kansan
Tuesday, May 16, 1967
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