Oh, by they way - although I’ve heard much about the success of Jane in Chicago I’ve never been able to find anything on their failures… and there must of have been some women with bad outcomes simply due to the large numbers of abortions performed. I’d be interested to know how their numbers compare with those of modern abortions.
Jane sought to provide women in the Chicago area referrals for abortion providers that they knew to be safe and honest. The Jane Collective eventually took it upon themselves to provide the abortions in a rented apartment. They estimate they performed 11,000 procedures themselves and never faced a serious complication.
I believe they were hesitant to keep written records, each recorded abortion would = 10 yrs in prison if they were raided by the police which was a very real possibility.
Honestly, if abortion were outlawed, and I ended up with an unplanned pregnancy, there’s no way in hell I’d try for an illegal abortion. I’d bite the bullet and either keep the baby or go for adoption. The risks are just too high.
The sad thing is, that many women are often forced to make the opposite choice. Which is why abortion MUST remain safe and legal.
I actually tried a method that was suggested by a feminist friend in the 1970’s. It was 10 grams of vitamin c per day, and taken with lots of water for 3 days. It was not pleasant, but I was 3 weeks late, always regular, and very worried.
I used a mostly rosehip powder and spaced the dosage out each day. The method may have caused the successful result or it may have been a timing coincidence, but it seemed to work.
Well, thank you for the links, which are pretty much I had found on my own.
However, providing counseling and follow-up, even with sterile precautions during the procedure, do not magically prevent all complications. Even with modern, legal methods during the first trimester a dozen or so serious complications would be expected after 11,000 procedures.
I don’t doubt the people concerned were doing everything they could, and it was far safer than most illegal abortions, but I find it improbable that there were NO complications and no serious complications during all that time. I understand why they wouldn’t keep written records, but failure to acknowledge problems and nothing about what they did if/when they arose is just viewing the whole matter through rose-colored glasses with a dollop of sugar-coating for good measure.
There were always unscrupulous operators who were in it for a buck and yeah there probably was complications that they didn’t know about, couldn’t prevent, couldn’t follow up on but it was a choice each woman had to make for herself and Jane wanted to give such a choice as safely they could possibly make it. It beats being raped by the abortionist before hand leaving you with a infection which would kill you if they procedure didn’t - very common. Watch 4 months, 2 Weeks and 3 Days - 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Wikipedia
And it’s real easy to say you wouldn’t if it was that dangerous until it’s you in that situation. There’s a maxim that floats about when talking about abortion - I bet you one unplanned pregnancy that you’re secretly pro-choice. It’s must be nice to set in your cushy 1st world country and never have seen a women die from excessive child bearing, become septic and die from an unscrupulous unskilled abortionist or watch a father mourn for his wife who’s dead while he takes home their 6 children who are now motherless.
That’s reality for most of the world, so it’s nice to be able to have this intellectual debate while real women DIE every 18 minutes from abortion complications worldwide.
Remember Margret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood because her mother died from excessive childbearing at 50 from 11 births and 7 miscarriages.
“Eve’s Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West” by John M. Riddle(copyright 1997) A very good and scholarly read, it goes into a lot of detail on a variety of allied topics. Many yesteryear females and herbwomen knew all about contraception and abortion, and how to go about it. I highly recommend this book.
I stated that I was certain everyone involved in Jane tried to make things as safe as possible.
That still doesn’t supply any real information on complications and bad outcomes. Which I’m interested in knowing NOT because I want to discredit Jane (I am, actually, old enough to remember when Roe v. Wade was decided) but because I want to know the facts.
Which I still cannot find.
Do you or don’t you have actual information on complication rates for abortions done under Jane?
No, I cannot find any hard data (for the previously stated reasons) and we probably won’t be able to considering the woman who founded Jane recently died. Her recent death reminded me of this thread hence my return to it. http://www.cwluherstory.org/Jane-Abortion-Service/
Even my search of medical journals turned no hard data on the complication rate - Google Scholar I think that info has been lost to the mists of time.
Ps - I am sorry about my earlier tone, I get worked up about this topic too much because I have seen first hand what restrictive abortion laws do to women, I’ve seen and smelled the septicemia of a botched abortion, I’ve held her hand as her life’s blood drained out of her faster than we could pump more back in and I grieved with the husband who didn’t even know she was pregnant again until he was watching her bleed out on the table. Most people don’t know one person who’s had an abortion, let alone seen up close the devastation an illegal, septic one can cause.
"Q:
Do you know of a means (NOT mechanical - no instruments used) to abort?
Did you learn this from your mother or other significant woman in your development?
Have you told your daughters (and, possibly just as important, your sons) about this?
FWIW - the technique I m thinking of was mainly a Southern thing - those “proper” ladies knew a thing or two more than they let on."
I’m Southern and also a Boomer and this secret knowledge was never passed on to me. I’m kind of surprised the ladies would allow a male to be “in” on this secret and I’m genuinely curious as to what they told you.
I have heard of some (unreliable) home methods to attempt to terminate unwanted pregnancies. I did not learn these form my mother or a significant woman in my life. I did not pass these methods on to my children.
The non-mechanical methods I had heard about have been mentioned already- douching (specifically with Coca-Cola, on the theory that it changed the acid/base balance of the vagina but was only effective immediately after intercourse) and abdominal trauma. I did not learn of any secret herbs.
The only method I did hear about that was both non-mechanical and had the potential to be effective was the misuse of birth control pills. Fortunately, I was never in a position myself or knew anyone who was in a position to have to find out if it was an effective method of terminating a pregnancy. The women I knew about who did get pregnant either married, secretly acquired an abortion, or went quietly to a “fat farm” that was far away.
I have a 1975 copy. This book actually even gave the street address of a clinic in New York where one could go to get an abortion.
In the interest of 60’s-70’s reproductive health issues, please enjoy my Imgur Album of a Comic book from Zing Comix, c 1975, called “'Ten Heavy Facts About Sex” located here: Ten Heavy Facts About Sex - Album on Imgur
Actually, I suspect most people DO, in fact, know someone who has had an abortion, they just don’t that fact about the person they know since this is still something people keep private.