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This is what back-alley abortions were really like
Column: This is what back-alley abortions were really like
Gary Woodcock, Tampa Bay Times, updated 7/11/18
As a moderate conservative or, equally, a moderate liberal, depending on the issue du jour, I have chills running down my spine at the possibility of Roe vs. Wade being overturned. Let me tell you why.
With a staunch Catholic upbringing and an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, I joined the Baltimore Police Department in 1959, 14 years before the 1973 landmark Roe decision. Police training taught that "abortion" had a legal definition and was illegal in Maryland. Nine days out of the academy and two days before Christmas, I was introduced to its cruel realities.
My post included Maryland General Hospital, an exciting assignment because of its "Accident Room," as its primitive emergency room was then called. One evening I received a call to take "a report of an injured woman" at the hospital.
A car with its side door open was parked at the entrance. Blood was on the back seat with more puddled on the ground. I noted the vehicle description and license number. A trail of blood led inside. A doctor and three nurses were working on a young woman lying on a table. My initial thought was she had been gutted.
With a staunch Catholic upbringing and an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, I joined the Baltimore Police Department in 1959, 14 years before the 1973 landmark Roe decision. Police training taught that "abortion" had a legal definition and was illegal in Maryland. Nine days out of the academy and two days before Christmas, I was introduced to its cruel realities.
My post included Maryland General Hospital, an exciting assignment because of its "Accident Room," as its primitive emergency room was then called. One evening I received a call to take "a report of an injured woman" at the hospital.
A car with its side door open was parked at the entrance. Blood was on the back seat with more puddled on the ground. I noted the vehicle description and license number. A trail of blood led inside. A doctor and three nurses were working on a young woman lying on a table. My initial thought was she had been gutted.
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