I had a relative who was an abortionist.
Not a blood relative. He married into the extended family.
He would perform the abortions on minors who became pregnant. This was before Roe v Wade.
His occupation?
He was a butcher. An actual meat butcher who performed abortions on young women.
No one ever died from his activities, but one woman ended up in the hospital.
He was caught by the police, or rather, the police decided to finally arrest him after the young woman landed in the hospital. His activities were well known around town. He even had a nickname which indicated what he did on the side, but I don't want to type it.
He went to prison for 2 years.
This all happened when I was very young.
Over the years, I would get snippets of the stories about him at family gatherings.
About 10 years ago, I decided to do a deep dive on the internet to see what I could find out about him.
I found 2 articles in the local paper. I found them on a newspaper archives site.
I saved the articles into my pictures on a thumb drive, and was looking at them today.
He had no malice in his heart. He viewed it as performing a service for people who needed help. I have no idea where he learned how to successfully perform abortions.
He died many years ago.
Welcome back to the early 60's.
My hope is that abortions like that will be less common now, due to instant communication and networking capabilities due to current technology, internet forums, etc. People can find out information these days that could not be obtained back then. And there is not the shame of getting pregnant while that young, as there was back then.
Back then you had to know someone who could put you in touch with someone who would perform the abortion.
Today is starting to hit me hard.
If, at the time, I am in a position to help someone out with either housing, funds, or information, I will be doing so.
What a nightmare. Doesn't seem real.
I don't want to type anything else about this relative. Just wanted to get that off my chest.
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