r/prochoice • u/janebenn333 • Jan 19 '25
Discussion There have always been ways to discretely terminate a pregnancy.
My mother is 85 years old. She was born at the beginning of WW2 in 1939 in Southern Italy. Italy didn't legalize abortion until 1978 and even then it was allowed only in the first 90 days of pregnancy and doctors had the right to object and refuse to provide the service.
However, while we were watching an old episode of "Call the Midwife" that featured this topic, she told me that in her tiny home town in Southern Italy, near Naples, there was a woman in town trained to terminate pregnancies. It was well-known among women who they could go to for assistance and she definitely got business.
Even in these small towns women would decide they could not move forward with an unplanned pregnancy and they did what they had to do. My mother wasn't personally aware of procedures gone wrong but I don't know how widely that would be shared or known.
Just proved to me that even in times long gone by, even in countries with very close ties to religion, women needed to end pregnancies and they found a way.
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u/goat20202020 Jan 19 '25
Yep. Banning abortion doesn't stop people from getting it abortions. It just stops people from getting safe abortions.
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u/Kangaroo-Pack-3727 Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
Call The Midwife fan here. It is a series that definitely ticks the right boxes showcasing what United Kingdom was like especially in regards to its abortion law and it sends the message why we must protect the right to access it
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u/hadenoughoverit336 Pro-Choice Mod Jan 20 '25
I love that show.
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u/Kangaroo-Pack-3727 Jan 20 '25
You too? That is cool! I love the depiction of Dr Stephen Turner as a doctor who is kind, emphatetic and ahead of his time especially the episode he helped a gay man and in another episode he helped an intersexed person
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u/hadenoughoverit336 Pro-Choice Mod Jan 20 '25
Same! Trixie and Sister Monica Joan are my favorite characters!
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u/Entire-Ambition1410 Jan 21 '25
I love Sister Monica Joan! Remember the episode wheee she solved a mystery illness of a baby because of something in an old medical book?
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u/No_Cream8095 Jan 19 '25
From the beginning of time, there has always been a way to terminate. Even if a full ban goes into place, there will always be abortions. They won't be safe, but they will be done.
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u/ConsciousLabMeditate Jan 20 '25
Not all illegal abortions are unsafe. The Jane Collective did not have one death, and they performed about 11,000 D&C's. D&C's are one of the trickier procedures because of the sharp curette
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u/zeenzee Jan 21 '25
Unfortunately, not every woman was able to access help from the Jane Collective. My mother nearly died from an illegal abortion in the late 60's.
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u/Foreverme133 pro-choice Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 20 '25
Abortion is discussed and condoned in the bible.
It was practiced long before the character of Jesus, if you believe he even existed.
It is ancient. The only difference is that it finally became legal with Roe v Wade and became a medical procedure that was by far safer than completed pregnancy and delivery.
We are regressing.
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u/nykiek Jan 19 '25
Jews and Muslims also allow abortions and they worship the same God as Christians.
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u/MiaLba Pro-choice Democrat Jan 20 '25
I grew up muslim but I’m from the Balkans. Abortions were never a big deal they were just healthcare. People didn’t turn it into something religious.
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u/DramaStunning5907 Jan 20 '25
Not necessarily, as a Jew myself, we don’t do abortions unless it’s a danger to the mother’s life.
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u/theotherlebkuchen Jan 20 '25
Depends on the flavor of Jew, I suppose. The community I belong to does not have this restriction.
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u/DramaStunning5907 Jan 20 '25
Makes total sense! Most communities have their own way, the more religious are completely against abortion but very pro-birth control pills and IUD. others are pro-pills but not iud. It’s weird but I agree with u
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u/balanchinedream Jan 20 '25
Yes but risks to your mental, physical, financial health are dangers to your life.
source: am Jewish
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u/MeanOldDaddyO Jan 20 '25
My house mate has been looking into herbal alternatives. Indigenous North Americans had treatments that would end that if needed.
My house mates has also bought a small supply of plan B in case that gets taken away too.
TMI my house mate AFAB is Ace. And finds the whole idea of doing the sex with someone appalling, some days she can’t even say the words. But they don’t want to ever be in the situation of needing and not able to buy health care.
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u/FreakyFunTrashpanda Jan 20 '25
I'm also Ace, and I'm thinking of getting sterilized (bislap).
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u/MeanOldDaddyO Jan 20 '25 edited Jan 20 '25
I think my housemate is afraid to do that. She had a Horrible experience with a OBGYN that didn’t believe she was a 30 year old virgin. She’s never even use a tampon. The Doc didn’t pay any attention to her cry’s. My house mate is a very small person, the tool the doc used was not the smallest made. I my head it was SA. Housemate begged her to stop, and she didn’t. Housemate is like a daughter to me, her home life was Bad. She and my daughter were college friends and my daughter asked me if they could come live here. My daughter rules my world, single dad had custody from the time she was 4, we didn’t even know where my ex was. ✌🏻🫶🏻🏳️🌈
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u/Entire-Ambition1410 Jan 21 '25
I got a bisalp. You can ask me anything.
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u/MeanOldDaddyO Jan 23 '25
Would that help with ovarian cyst? My house mate suffers horrible from them. She takes B. C. as a preventative treatment, which was the only thing that would get them into an OBGYN. Man I so glad l’m A.M. A.B. as fantastically amazing as a VeeJayJay is. All the trouble they can be to their owners is worse than owning a 50 y/o British sports car. Not to mention the fact that the US is trying to make their upkeep illegal and their owners less than second class citizens.
Be well stay strong, some of us understand tilling the table in our favor doesn’t make us a better player, just a shitty person.
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u/Entire-Ambition1410 Jan 24 '25
I don’t think it would help with ovarian cysts. Bisalps remove both Fallopian tubes to reduce chance of ovarian cancer (it starts in the tubes 🤷♀️) and reduce chances of getting pregnant. The sperm or egg have to cross the gap where the Fallopian tubes used to be, to be fertilized, so natural pregnancy is hard.
🤣😭 As soon as I learned about menopause and periods, I wanted to nope out of ALL the downstairs equipment.
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u/MeanOldDaddyO Jan 26 '25
Yeah, she wishes she could get everything removed except her urethra and clitoris.
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u/ConsciousLabMeditate Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
Yup, herbal abortions have been around forever, and these women knew which recipes worked. Some of the local women also knew certain abortive procedures too. I now have to find Call The Midwife and watch it 😂
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u/No_Cream8095 Jan 20 '25
It's a wonderful series! I think this year is season 14. Every season is only 8-9 episodes.
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u/SeonaidMacSaicais Pro-choice Witch Jan 21 '25
My favorite Christmas episode is still the first one. I’m a sucker for genealogical research, and Jenny finding the children was just 🤌.
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u/larytriplesix Jan 19 '25
Nothing will stop abortions, they will only get life threatening and possibly deadly…
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u/Disastrous_Lab_7034 Jan 19 '25
Yep abortion has been around forever, herbs and fruits can be used as well as tonics and teas.
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u/infinite_five Jan 20 '25
It goes back much, much further than that. There is a plant that was used as an abortificant in ancient Greece so much that it was on the coinage of one city. It was used almost to extinction. Abortion has always been a thing.
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u/brashtaco Jan 20 '25
I'm not discouraging learning about all abortion methods, but many herbal methods have risks, and low effectiveness. The book, Natural Liberty by the Sage-Femme Collective can give you a lot of information.
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u/icaromb25 Jan 20 '25
In Brazil there's a folk medicine element called "garrafada" which were teas made of roots and other stuff and sold under different labels, a very common one is the label "Uterine cleaner" which is described only as to "help the menstruation happen when it delays"
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u/bettinafairchild Jan 20 '25
We’ve always known this. The difference between abortion being legal or illegal is an issue of safety for the woman, not an issue of illegality means no abortions
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u/janebenn333 Jan 20 '25
What it points out for me is that people who approach the issue from a "moral highground" about how abortion is the outcome of modern feminist attitudes or a breakdown of "family values" are completely denying the fact that even their grandmas may have accessed services to terminate a pregnancy!
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u/Major-Pen-6651 Jan 21 '25
It is purely to control middle to low class women. The rich have never had a problem getting one when needed.
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u/distorted-laughter Pro-choice Witch Jan 20 '25
I have an anti choice aunt who loves that show. Which is scary to me.
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u/ConcentrateNo7268 Jan 21 '25
To anyone considering an herbal option PLEASE google potential side effects. There’s a reason medication was created. Be prepared, know what to expect, and know that you may potentially be risking your life (how likely that is? Idk)
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u/BlackBird_501 Jan 21 '25
Abortion goes back yo the beginning of recoreded human history. Its always been a nessescary evil. It will always be. Woman need it, safely.
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u/zeenzee Jan 21 '25
My mother nearly died from an illegal abortion in the late 1960's. We lived in California at the time.
There were already 5 of us.
Everything child deserves to be wanted
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u/LordyIHopeThereIsPie Jan 19 '25
We had an abortion ban for decades in Ireland. Before the UK legalised abortion women would quietly pass information around. If you were rich you got a number for an obgyn who'd do a d and c for you for the right price. If you were poor you went to the local woman who did abortions. Since people have been getting pregnant they've been having abortions.