Chalmers: Since ancient times, women have found ways to end unwanted pregnancies
Letter to the editor
I grew up in a city with a huge naval base, and as the old WW II song goes, “All the nice girls love a sailor” – and they did. In my town, most of the girls who were impregnated by these wonderful sailors worked in the naval yards all day during the week and a half day on Saturday, so they had their abortions after work on Saturday.
I went to a convent school and worked at the related hospital across the street on the weekend. Sundays were often the days when these girls would come in hemorrhaging from an abortion they had gotten in some sleazy hotel room by an unskilled abortionist.
Next I lived in London, where I shared a room with an English girl who was impregnated by a boy she did not love. She bled so much from her botched illegal abortion that she spent almost a month in bed recovering. In her weakened state, she contracted TB, which almost ended her life.
Next I moved to New York City, where I worked as a fashion model. One day I received a letter from an old schoolmate who was living in Montreal. She was coming to visit me. I learned when she came that it was because she had been raped and wanted an abortion. I had no idea what to do, so I asked my fellow workers. That is when I learned that the fashion models all went to the Caribbean for their abortions, and the stock room girls went to some place up in Harlem.
Not having any money, my friend chose Harlem, and I went along to give moral support. A woman met us at the door, picking her teeth with a hairpin, and pointed to the dirty kitchen table where she did her abortions. We fled in horror and my friend went back to Montreal. There she found an abortionist who looked cleaner. And it was there that she bled to death.
Next I came to Gainesville, where a faculty wife got impregnated by her husband, who was considering leaving her and their two children. She found an abortionist down in Tampa who agreed to meet her at a motel. On the table, when she asked if she could have some anesthesia, he told her that she had to remain fully alert in case they were raided, in which case she would have to be prepared to get down and run to her car to drive away.
Since ancient times, women have found a way to end an unwanted pregnancy. Young State Legislators will not change that.
Jean Chalmers, Gainesville
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Damn Jean…Just because you and your loose friends and acquaintances live with little to no regard to morals and ethics does not mean it is right. Grow up, get beyond yourself and either shut your legs or deal with the natural reward!
That was a cruel response. One cannot judge. There are many reasons. These decisions are Not made lightly.
The current and future implications are what matters. Currently chemical OTC abortion pills in vending machines, are being abused by midterm pregnant girls and women, often victims of crime. They end up in ERs too, forcing doctors and nurses to use hospitals as abortion clinics and recovery rooms, if they survive their self-prescribed doses. They don’t press charges on their abusers, so abuse has gotten worse, not better.
The other current and future implication is the sex trafficking business, such as at Miami airport area “executive hotels” with a private garage for each room. That is just in Miami and would become commonplace, exploiting vulnerable girls and women flown in from other states and countries to other Florida airports, too. Epstein was caught, but he wasn’t the only one.
One good thing about the Sexual Revolution is it’s no longer shameful to be pregnant and out of wedlock. Women no longer have to have abortions for shame; really they could help the adoption business instead — making lemonade from a “lemon” is commendable. They should be rewarded for going thru such disrupting pregnancies — instead of paid for sex.
Imagine ADOPTION getting as much press as abortion does for 50+ years running. Our news industry is heavily slanted by childless, competitive female reporters, the fashion industry and pop culture that altogether minimizes marriage and motherhood. That’s the culture today. How much better our world, especially for women, would be today if the opposite were true.
Jean was a fashion model?
She’s still a pretty woman. I can easily see her as a model.
Aren’t all the scenarios Ms. Chalmers notes legal in Florida today?
What a shortsighted, selfless and gross opinion piece. Society is a sick, collective joke if it accepts this as banter.
Selfish*
Jean, your experience is what it is. I respect your honesty, and the guts to talk about stuff. Those were judgemental times. If one couldn’t live up to the pretense, it would be better to own it….. The same disregard for life that exsanguinated or scarred those moms…….killed those babies. Touchy subject.
Don’t peeps realize that abstinence is not realistic? Nor is legislating morality. AND, is is generally the women that are on the losing end, due to legislation.
That’s what ADOPTION is for.
Abstinence not realistic? Yet somehow people refrain from drug and alcohol use.
The legislature has already made rape a criminal offense so in some ways your statement is true; morality can’t be legislated. Guess a good place to start is at home.
Jean. That took courage. It wasn’t an opinion but rather a reflection on what you experienced. And a prediction of the future.
No, it is not a prediction. All of the cases she describes are legal in Florida today and it is highly likely most of the cases would have been done with the abortion inducing meds.
The question whether abortion should be legal or illegal should be up to women only. Men have no say in the matter.
Men should never have to pay child support.
@ Befuddled: most men don’t pay their child support. That should make you happy.
That is the most ridiculous statement of the day. What if a man wanted the abortion and the woman wanted to keep the baby, is the man now responsible for Child support? If you believe a man is responsible for a pregnancy, and the sex was consensual, why would that man not have a say?
A woman can avoid the financial responsibility of raising a child by merely murdering it. The man has no say in it. If a woman can do that, then a man ought not be responsible for child support if he doesn’t want the child. Is that not logical?
The question whether anything should be legal or illegal should be up to men only. Women have no say in the matter.
It’s safe to come out of that cave.
you’re telling tall tales here Jean. Just by how you describe all the men as lustful devils and all the woman as innocent angels. It takes 2 as the song goes. Mama Caleba only charged a $100 in Sparta to get yourself right, that was in 1967. My body my choice, i get it but you’re not supposed to brag about it. Would be interesting to hear what your grandma and mother thought about this editorial.
My mother was the midwife in our remote northern farming community. She came home crying when some farmer’
s wife almost bled to death from trying to abort her 10th child!
jean so you grew up in a remote northern farming city with a huge naval yard, a convent school and a hospital across the street. I think i know where you grew up, fantasy land!
Even in your tall tale of a reply you keep slandering men. this time a farmer. Farmers try not to abort anything, we raise stuff. Like corn, cattle and kids. Sometimes even other people’s kids if we have to!
Jean Trojans were invented in 1888. went commercial in 1910. They introduced latex Trojans in 1926. The pill came out in 1960. You and your dupe fashion model girlfriends never passed by a pharmacy while you lived in the Big Apple? Just victims of love! it’s such an easy part and you know how to play it so well!
My grandma would always say the truth hurts! The truth is life is full of choices and those choices have consequences. Quit blaming men for your poor choices.
Oh, women also can die giving birth! why don’t you write an editorial about that? I know why cause you’re just a victim of love!
Jean Chalmers personally recalls the not so distant horrors that women faced when making a decision most found hard enough – who thinks they are not the most reluctant to end life in their body and that politicians care more than they do? – without the personal danger element and moral judgement, no matter their choice, from the same type people who are mouthing easy pieties – easy for them – here?
Get the Governor and legislature out from our bedrooms, kitchen tables, and doctors offices and entrust this choice to the women who have to live with it. That’s how free people act.
As I recall, it was a group of County Commissioners, led by that idiot Hutchinson, who were wanting to invade our homes to make sure we were wearing masks.
You were probably high again.
Selective memory for you as usual.
If I was, it was in the safety of my own home, not one of those self-made tent communities you support, nor the affordable housing you clamor for without putting something of your efforts – not just your sanctimonious BS, into.
I’m sure it’s better to go high than going low as you’ve grown so accustomed to. Then again, those you’ve bowed to so often are probably happy with your “accomplishments.”
Again, you have me confused with someone else and he’s probably set a tent up in your head.
So you’re a great storyteller along with your other many accomplishments?
This Independence Day, you may want to lay off the Kool-aid.
Jazzman your comment makes no sense. You rail about the dangers of unregulated and unsafe abortions but then you want the government to mind its own business. Which is it?
Abortion is not illegal anywhere these days. People in every state now can vote on what the conditions are for abortion. The choice has now in some ways been increased because you chose how to vote and where to live as well as abortion. If you are in a situation where you have abortions on a regular basis then don’t live in a state that has more strict regulation or go to a state not as strict to get the abortion (and maybe re-evaluate your life). In almost every state there are exceptions especially in the case of emergency. Those states that have tried not to allow exceptions are for the most part already being overruled in court. So the BS and drama over abortion is just that BS and drama. Most women are responsible enough with their bodies to never have an abortion and for those that have emergency situations they are still treated. For those so concerned they can’t get or have access to an abortion several times a year (as their drama seems to indicate) need to have hysterectomies so it is no longer an issue or report their abusers. People act like woman need to have an abortion every month (when most never have even 1) and that state regulation is going to somehow hamper their lives. (side note: we absolutely need to regulate the adoption system and make it far less expensive for people to create families with adopted children)
The only choice that has been increased Oh, is the choice of those such as yourself who want to dictate the morality and religion of others and how it should be applied to their life, not yours.
I’ve seen you post some ridiculous stuff but this comment proves you to be a small minded blind individual, with an agenda and no actual concern for a woman. No where did I say a thing about morality or religion or how that should be applied to anyone’s life (if you were an actual female you may have seen that more clearly). That is where your own simple mind went. If you are referring to my comment regarding re-evaluating life (because I can’t imagine where else you “gleaned” the religious/moral thought) that is exactly what needs to happen for someone that would need/want many abortions. The damage to the body in doing something like that is horrible, so an evaluation needs to be made to change the lifestyle (including report potential abusers) or as also mentioned get a hysterectomy to avoid more significant health issues and damage of repeated abortion, that has zero to do with religion or morality as people like you want others to think in an effort to dismiss.
Oh, if you can’t grasp the fact that the supposed gain in freedom you claim from ending Roe v Wade is the freedom of strangers to decide the most difficult decisions other people have to make, I can’t explain it to you. Those making the decision have less freedom and that’s a fact.
Do you practice your deflection or is it just natural for you not to stay on task and grasp at any random thought in order to do so? It’s actually comical and pathetic to watch to switch thought randomly to try and make a point you don’t actually have
Murder is already illegal and immoral. Unless, of course, it’s a mother murdering her child.
Savoy: Since ancient times, women have made poor decisions and demanded to be shielded from the consequences. More news at 11.
Since the beginning of time, man has found ways to kill others. . . does that make it right? One of the 10 Commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Murder.” I suppose the author doesn’t buy that one either.
Writer is a loon.
And no, nobody cares about your life struggle with idiocy.
If you want to have an abortion, don’t make the taxpayers pay for it.
If you have a child, it’s your responsibility to educate & feed it.
Parents need to pay their fair share to educate their children, not dump them in the public school system and have taxpayers pay for it.
Don’t breed em if you can’t educate & feed em…
Good thing there in no longer a stigma against homosexuality. That will solve the problems of unwanted pregnancy, overpopulation, the overburdened foster care system, child abuse and domestic violence, etc….. Sparta, here we come.
People have always found a way to rape, murder & steal also, but it still doesn’t make it right. If you don’t want to get pregnant, don’t have sex until you’re married. Wow, what a novel idea! Less than 1% of abortions are due to rape. Most are because someone choro have sex before marriage.
Typo..should have been “chose to have sex before marriage”