The Worst of Times: Illegal Abortion : Survivors, Practitioners, Coroners, Cops and Children of Women Who Died Talk About Its Horrors [Hardcover]

Patricia G. Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1993

A look at the dark period prior to the legalization of abortion presents the thoughts of children who lost their mothers to back-alley abortionists, the coroners who autopsied those women, and the unskilled people who performed those abortions. National ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The days when abortions were illegal are graphically and chillingly recalled here by a host of witnesses. Women tell of the byzantine lengths they went to to get mostly perilous abortions; doctors, nurses and others, including boyfriends, describe their experiences. Here, too, are poignant reminiscences of those orphaned when their mothers died having siblings aborted. Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Roe v. Wade , this powerful collection of testaments, assembled by Miller, a Pittsburgh lawyer and abortion rights activist, demonstrates what awaits women if abortion is made illegal again. Appendices review the history of abortion legislation and the frequency, methods and complications of "underground" abortions. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060190345
• ISBN-13: 978-0060190347
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #531,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing, January 14, 2006

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Worst of Times: Illegal Abortion : Survivors, Practitioners, Coroners, Cops and Children of Women Who Died Talk About Its Horrors (Hardcover)

This collection of stories bluntly illustrates why having reproductive choice is essential to a society. The chilling stories from women, their families, the practitioners, the investigators, and the people who tried to patch up the women still rivals any horror-suspense movie which I've seen.

I was particularly struck by Paula's recollection of her 1963 illegal abortion. The juxtaposition of the Miss America pageant airing while she was undergoing an illegal abortion (p. 225) reinforced the frustration that she felt at having to go to those depths. She got her abortion after finding out her husband left her because being a single parent was impossible in that era and temporarily going to a maternity home was impractical already with one young son. She explicitly notes that the contents of her uterus did not look like what is now displayed on anti-choice placards (pp. 226-227). Finally, she juxtaposed her daughter's 1991 legal abortion (pp. 227-229) to emphasize the critical difference that legalization made for women's physical and emotional health.

Women occupy center stage in this anthology, but men's voices are also heard. Two powerful testimonies come from 'Dr. Bert' who said that 'it was the system and not the abortionist that killed her' (p. 195) and 'Coroner Fred' who emphatically said that after Roe v. Wade was decided 'the deaths stopped overnight in 1973 and I never saw another abortion death in all the 18 years after that until I retired' (p. 13).

Both of those people are older than the 'baby boom generation' who were participating in the 'sexual revolution' and were not a part of it, but their experiences of what the 'good old days' were really like are a needed reality check---especially now. It is indicative of how little rights women really have if there are elected officials in this country eager to return us to those times.

I reccomend this book to anybody needing to learn about reproductive politics.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth for a change, August 9, 2005

By 

DivaPrime (Las Vegas NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Worst of Times: Illegal Abortion : Survivors, Practitioners, Coroners, Cops and Children of Women Who Died Talk About Its Horrors (Hardcover)

When I first read this book I was so moved that I bought a dozen copies and have given them out whenever I run into a woman who thinks she's anti-abortion. It never fails to change their point of view. Having lost my best friend to an illegal abortion in 1971, I was overjoyed when Roe vs Wade came down. I am a woman who loves children and has adopted 3, but I fear greatly for my daughters and their daughters in a world where abortion will all too probably become illegal again.

5.0 out of 5 stars Do you love your daughter as much as Abraham loved his son?, January 27, 2012

By 

Mickeycat (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Worst of Times: Illegal Abortion : Survivors, Practitioners, Coroners, Cops and Children of Women Who Died Talk About Its Horrors (Hardcover)

This book does not politicize abortion, it just tells stories like mine. The truth - in their own words, unvarnished and without an agenda. Making something illegal does not stop it at all, it creates a flourishing underground. The anti-abortion movement has forgotten about Prohibition! This should be required reading for every politician who aspires to be a lawmaker. Everyone who does not have a uterus should read this book; if women began attempting to regulate testicles - this entire debate would vanish.

No one wants to have an abortion. My story is like Janet's - I was in an abusive relationship, and I was on the pill....if it is 99% effective and you have 30 years of active fertility (let's say from ages 15 to 45) and you cycle 13 times a year (every 28 days) and you NEVER miss a pill and you are married to someone who believes it is his right to use his wife as he wants, when he wants; then you have 390 chances in your life when it is possible to become pregnant - if you use the pill faithfully - you will face 3.9 unintended pregnancies during your life.

If you think about it and ask around, I bet you will hardly ever find a woman who planned, in detail, each of her pregnancies. Nearly every woman - since the dawn of time - has had the experience of saying to herself, "huh...I'm pregnant, I wasn't expecting that". How she deals with it will be exclusively related to the place in her life she is. I desperately wanted another child, but knew if I remained pregnant at that point in my life, I would likely be beaten to death (along with the unborn child). As a mother, I already loved my child enough not to put him/her through dying a death like that. He/She deserved better from me - the best thing I could do - the only thing I could do- was protect my unborn child, myself, and ultimately the other child I already had (my 7 year old) - was to NOT have that baby and try to finally get away from him once and for all. The problem was that even though he had left me, he kept coming back - after he knew I had an abortion he was so angry that he left for good! I will forever be indebted to the spirit of that child - because that child's mere temporary existence did what I had not been able to do - he/she freed us from the abuse we had been suffering!

I believe the spirit simply went back wherever he/she had been and waited to return to me. I have another child now - I was able to have that child because I had a medically safe abortion that did not harm my reproductive system. That same spirit returned to me and is now an utterly amazing child who is being raised in a positive, happy, abuse free environment surrounded by love.

I am telling you that the unborn speak for themselves. There have been millions if not trillions of abortions since the dawn of womankind. The ancient Egyptians performed abortions. Do you not believe that these spirits return to Earth in another body? Because if you don't then there are a whole lot of spirits God created who never have had the opportunity to change mankind. I simply believe God is more efficient than that! Why create a spirit that will never touch anyone else's life? It doesn't make sense! My spirit returned to me and I believe the others do to - if not to the same mother than to another. And each time, the mother is touched. She appreciates the child even if it is not a good time to carry and birth that child. I assure you - if it is not a good time to be pregnant, she would have rather not conceived than to have to deal with the aftermath of an abortion.
If someone had forced me to have my baby the first time I conceived him - they would have been signing my death warrant and likely the other child I already had too - I simply asked the sprit to return later to me, when things were safe. I do not believe I murdered my unborn child. I postponed his birth. I have seen children in the hospital die from abuse - they do not deserve it and no one will ever be able to tell me it would not have been better had that child not been born.

If you love your daughter you will tell her your stories and share this book. Most of the tragedy the book portrays was due to the secrecy surrounding abortion. Well, that and men's control over a woman's access to birth control..Ever read the Handmaid's tale?

Pro Choice is just that...a choice, you do not have to choose abortion if it is not right for you. Most Americans are horrified by the thought that in China, women are only allowed one child, therefore forced to abort all others. How is forcing a woman to have a baby any different than forcing her not to? What kind of dictatorship do you want to live in? If God did not approve of abortion, he would not have given humans the knowledge that it was possible. God does not make mistakes. Pro-Life people are terrible Christians who do not trust their God and believe Him to be flawed. My God is not flawed; he gave me knowledge that would save my life. I trusted that knowledge implicitly - just like Abraham!