How find out she was pregnant; well for the straight facts, yes go to PP, but back then your friends would have played a bigger role in tipping you off. People were closer and talked about more stuff. Would the fact that she's a minor -- not in the 1960s. 18 and 21 are adultish numbers of the more recent era, 15 has been regarded as adult in THIS country at certain times. In the 1960s you could still go into the army at 17 under some conditions. In some states you could vote and drink at 16 and 17 until amendments and federal laws encouraged 18 and 21, respectively. In Virginia (next door) in the '80s my then girlfriend was able to go to planned parenthood and get all the services they offered ... at 15. So your teen probably noticed some signs, like nausea, hardness of the belly and nipples, extra horniness, changes in tastes, when she was already a couple of months along, maybe even 4 months. Talking with her friends at lunch would probably be how she decided it was pregnancy, or a sibling. Otherwise yes, it would be a family doctor, and her folks would surely have taken her since she'd be missing school. As for PP's history I looked on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_parenthood and they had some good stuff. by the '60s it would be called Planned Parenthood, but some might still be calling it the Birth Control league. There is a good chance that the office in Baltimore did not/does not provide abortion services directly as most of the offices do not, instead relying on referrals to doctors or hospitals that are not part of the organization. Yes she'd have to wait, in the lobby, for long stretches.
1966 is seven years before Roe vs. Wade. Abortion (as such) would be a complete non-starter.
In 1966, contraception in and of itself was still controversial. It had only been the previous year that the Supreme Court affirmed the right of married women to have access to birth control and it wouldn't be until 1972 (the year before Roe vs. Wade) that the same right would be extended to unmarried women.
See there are some misconceptions (conception -- ha!) about the Roe v. Wade debate vs. abortion legality. Roe v. Wade addressed whether the government would or could help PAY for abortions, but before Roe v. Wade there were actually more states with legal abortion... as long as the citizen paid for it totally. Abortion before that was a medical procedure, rarely performed in a clinic, but a hospital. Because of that it was difficult to PAY for without state assistance, just like many hospital procedures today. By "states pay for" I mean even subsidize through programs and/or tax benefits to those businesses that might provide the services or counseling. The coathangar abortion issue often centered on desperate women seeking an affordable option. It is Roe v. Wade that brought the abortion debate to light and THEN states started driving towards actual bans on the procedures (since you can't bar the payment and subsidy then try to ban the action itself). In any even we are still talking about a state-by-state policy decision, even in 1966, BUT Maryland being a highly Catholic state I would suspect they had stern laws against abortion -- a missed guess because unlike my state (Va) Maryland has a pretty long tradition of not regulating stuff that doesn't absolutely need it. By comparison we've always seen MD. as a bit smutty and permissive. In Virginia it was the reverse on contraception, MARRIED women had no access to it until the '70s (except through their husbands), but unwed women had access (except that women under 19 had to have parental permission).
Thanks. I think it'll be an older family member, maybe a cousin or an aunt, who clues her in. She doesn't wind up getting an abortion, though--she keeps the baby and marries the father.
Would the fact that she's a minor -- not in the 1960s. 18 and 21 are adultish numbers of the more recent era, 15 has been regarded as adult in THIS country at certain times. In the 1960s you could still go into the army at 17 under some conditions. In some states you could vote and drink at 16 and 17 until amendments and federal laws encouraged 18 and 21, respectively. In Virginia (next door) in the '80s my then girlfriend was able to go to planned parenthood and get all the services they offered ... at 15.
So your teen probably noticed some signs, like nausea, hardness of the belly and nipples, extra horniness, changes in tastes, when she was already a couple of months along, maybe even 4 months. Talking with her friends at lunch would probably be how she decided it was pregnancy, or a sibling. Otherwise yes, it would be a family doctor, and her folks would surely have taken her since she'd be missing school.
As for PP's history I looked on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_parenthood and they had some good stuff. by the '60s it would be called Planned Parenthood, but some might still be calling it the Birth Control league.
There is a good chance that the office in Baltimore did not/does not provide abortion services directly as most of the offices do not, instead relying on referrals to doctors or hospitals that are not part of the organization. Yes she'd have to wait, in the lobby, for long stretches.
Reply
In 1966, contraception in and of itself was still controversial. It had only been the previous year that the Supreme Court affirmed the right of married women to have access to birth control and it wouldn't be until 1972 (the year before Roe vs. Wade) that the same right would be extended to unmarried women.
Reply
Roe v. Wade addressed whether the government would or could help PAY for abortions, but before Roe v. Wade there were actually more states with legal abortion... as long as the citizen paid for it totally. Abortion before that was a medical procedure, rarely performed in a clinic, but a hospital. Because of that it was difficult to PAY for without state assistance, just like many hospital procedures today. By "states pay for" I mean even subsidize through programs and/or tax benefits to those businesses that might provide the services or counseling. The coathangar abortion issue often centered on desperate women seeking an affordable option. It is Roe v. Wade that brought the abortion debate to light and THEN states started driving towards actual bans on the procedures (since you can't bar the payment and subsidy then try to ban the action itself). In any even we are still talking about a state-by-state policy decision, even in 1966, BUT Maryland being a highly Catholic state I would suspect they had stern laws against abortion -- a missed guess because unlike my state (Va) Maryland has a pretty long tradition of not regulating stuff that doesn't absolutely need it. By comparison we've always seen MD. as a bit smutty and permissive.
In Virginia it was the reverse on contraception, MARRIED women had no access to it until the '70s (except through their husbands), but unwed women had access (except that women under 19 had to have parental permission).
Reply
XD
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment