a^ X^y^€h^^i.iAjj^a(^,.^^£X:^JzAA^^y^J^^ P(A/^ ^4^fxjU)C^. ^.^^<JW*«^ .XAt^ CXAyCt^^i&V - Ayi^ ^ X&^^ ct/i-&U'*yjpL^ '^?t«^ ^•^tnJc .^^aZl^^^ \MM.,4^H^ M^^-^^-O^ A^^^(^(Le^ <^i^ aJ-^ttoan^ _^ X^JL. J!uf2/t4M£^ (^€^i'*^^ Zd^jCytU^ y^i?^ /cAt- Ay'^i^i'fi^ CM'^yt'M^^ . Z ABORTION FOR THE ASKING Seated in a semicircle around Holly sibility that anti-abortion forces will win Shaw, R.N., are seven women, each a constitutional amendment overturn­ certifiably no more than 12 weeks preg­ ing the decision, legal abortion will be nant. It is Friday night, the busiest an established fact of American life. night of the week at Bill Baird's Parents That makes it worth taking a look at Aid Society, a small nonprofit abortion the place where abortion has worked clinic on Long Island run by one of the under the most liberal conditions for country's most zealous crusaders for the longest time. For the past few weeks abortion reform. In a few hours the I have been visiting abortion clinics in women assembled here will no longer New York and the people who keep be pregnant, and Mrs. Shaw is explain­ them busy—patients, doctors, counsel­ ing in great detail how this will hap­ ors. Everything that I have seen and pen. The Baird clinic does its counseling heard suggests that while the law can in small groups, instead of individually, offer safe and humane surroundings for in the interests of tension-easing and a woman who wants an abortion, no productive experience-sharing, but there one can do much about making it psy­ are no group dynamics at work this chologically easy. Like Doris at the night. The seven women stare despond­ Parents Aid Society, almost every Vvom- ently at the transparent model of a fe­ an comes to the experience with a de­ male pelvis that Mrs. Shaw uses to gree of anxiety. It is not a happy time. explain the procedure. She tells them On the other hand, contrary to the folk­ that the kind of abortion they are about BY HELEN DUDAR lore of abortion as lifelong trauma, it is to have is swift, simple, safe, and can So there it is: for the past 33 months, not necessarily a profundly scarring one be pain free. Not one of her listeners either. believes it. She tells them she had one any woman who wanted an abortion patient who read a magazine through could have one in New York State for Let's look at the realities. For a starter, her abortion. Two of the women look the asking—and the paying—before the as one abortion worker put it, "It's a almost catatonic with fear. She tells seventh month of her pregnancy. Since pregnancy, not an infected molar." To them, "Some people have even said it July 1, 1970, under the benediction of many women, conception is a magical tickles." No trace of a smile pursues one of the most liberal laws in the event, good magic when a baby is the notion. Afterwards, Mrs. Shaw goes country. New York State has become wanted, bad magic when it's unwel­ on, they might feel "a little yucky," no the most popular place in the hemi­ come; in either event, it's hard to be more than that. Nothing, nothing this sphere to have an abortion perfoiTned; casual about the fertilization of a hu­ friendly, compassionate young woman New York City alone has counted more man ovum. offers dispels the haggard apprehension than a half-million voluntarily termi­ Then, there is the specter of the clinging damply to the walls of the lit­ nated pregnancies. botched abortion; everyone has surely tle room. Finally, she turns to a large, Now the U.S. Supreme Court has ex­ read of one, seen a movie about one, pale young woman who is rather con­ tended the right nationally in a deci­ had a friend or relative victimized by spicuously struggling with nausea and sion that surprised and pleased the ad­ one, and the imagery is forever fixed: says gently, "Doris, you look really vocates of legalized abortion as much the newspapers on the kitchen floor, grim." Doris, expelling a mournful sigh, as it outraged its foes. When the Court's the dingy overhead light, the unclean slides even lower into the chair and decision, which was handed down on instruments, the inept or sadistic doc­ says, "It sounds so awful—isn't there January 22, becomes a reality in this tor, the death by hemorrhage or blood some way they can put you out without covmtiy, the expert guessers are guess­ poisoning. In this part of the U.S., telling you about it?" ing that 1,600,000 legal abortions will where abortion has become almost be performed every year (see box, page routine and almost respectable, where 34). Just the other day, abortion was clinics flourish all over the state, Helen Dudar is a reporter for the New an unmentionable and, under the laws where Planned Parenthood of New York Post and has written for a num­ of most states, a criminal act. Now, in York will even charge it to your Bank- ber of national magazines. no time at all, barring the remote pos­ Americard, the question many women 30 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED S^aX^XIJUC^(juCuX^KOj. /yt^/t^AyK/ aX':;c^ijt^ \ CJUH^(L^ iMHy-Hdl'tM^ x^ J~ JU/OU^J^<Ld^ ^ CK^ M4A&n^ J^my (^^•^•t^Hau ^^i^i-<L^. '^<^^<y .AAyCdC ^^C&TtX'ySH^-Ur^ J'1^^4<^ yU/<i^/^^M^^SI'^<^ , W£^5^ 6^t{ii<^ do<^i^ /iC^Cl. /l/^^^<X:^yt^UHA^ \^^€/;ayo<^i^ /^aM. (>uyi^/nt^ta^ a-^ufC^ /ULCuyLC><.i^ ^a^a^PtC^CM^'U-^, ..^><9-<:-<'^^ 4t^Z - still ask first is, "Will I die?" The an­ a psychologist, or, in many cases, an that women who are going to have an swer is almost certainly not. In the first unspecialized college graduate who. is abortion are usually startled to find two and a half years of abortion reforni, bright, friendly, calm, empathetic, be­ themselves on premises that are clean, there have been 17 deaths among lieves strongly in the right to abortion, comfortable, well lit, tastefully decor­ 507,851 abortion procedures of vary­ probably has had one herself, and is ated, and staffed by kind people. The ing kinds, compared with five times present as surrogate friend. The best clinics vary from small Middle West that rate of fatality from tonsillectomies. counselors work hard and successfully cozy to huge and Alphaville labyrin­ In the last year and a half, there have to allay the patient's worst fears, listen thine, but most of them have similar been no deaths at all among women to and help with all sorts of problems, amenities: an attractive waiting room who had suction-aspiration abortions, and stand by her while the doctor is often filled with young men who have the latest and simplest procedure, at work, holding her hand, stroking come with their young women; hard­ which can be used up to the twelfth her forehead, talking all the while to working, conscientious counselors; gyn­ week of pregnancy. take her mind off the moment. ecologists who work by the day for an This technique is an advance over the / didn't expect a place as nice as eight-hour shift that pays them $280 old dilation-and-curettage method in this. I expected a dingy room and all and who range in warmth, humanity, which the wall of the uterus was kinds of people like you see at a bus and skill all the way from swell to scraped. It begins with an injection of stop—some people crying, some people indifferent; a recovery room, usually a local anesthetic to numb the cei^vix; not crying, and everything hurry-up. with beds, where a patient may nap for the pain killer is the same thing the I thought it was going to be all hush- a while; a recovery lounge where, hav­ dentist uses before he starts drilling. hush and hurry-up. But nobody in the ing been required to arrive with an Then the doctor inserts a series of slen­ waiting room seems very upset—they're empty stomach, she can break her fast der dilation rods into the cervical open­ all sitting there socializing. I thought on cookies and coffee. ing; that produces the abortion. A the doctor woidd he old and gray-haired There are also a few other features vacuum apparatus suctions out the uter­ with an attitude of "Ah, come on, this that clinics have in common, among ine contents. Some doctors also curette is an everyday affair and you knew them an aversion by their staffs to call­ the walls of the uterus to make certain what you tvcre getting into." I have ing things by their rightful names. all the tissue is out. The whole business three children at home. I teas so afraid The place where the abortion is per­ takes no more than ten minutes, and, I'd be too sick to get back to them formed is always the Procedure Room. theoretically, it is possible to feel no tonight. I've been so upset about this Nobody ever suggests that the sensa­ discomfort beyond some mild cramping pregnancy—/ haven't been eating and tion of suctioning is similar to a birth immediately afterwards as the uterus I haven't been sleeping.