by Dr. Nilza Kallos, Miami, FL, NCJW Miami Section

It was a beautiful day in September, 1970. I was a young intern at Bryn Mawr Hospital in the exclusive Main Line suburb of Philadelphia, having recently graduated from medical school. I was called to the emergency room to admit to the hospital a 16 year-old girl from a rich Main Line family. Her problem was intractable nausea and vomiting. Even though during my work-up she told me that she had never had sexual intercourse, for sake of completeness I ordered a pregnancy test that was reported positive. When I confronted her with the result, she confessed having had unprotected sex and that having the baby was totally out of the question, since she was getting ready to become a “debutante.”

Abortion could only be performed at that time if the life of the woman were in danger, an exception which (rightfully) included high risk of suicide if confirmed by a psychiatrist. I called for a consult with a psychiatrist, who questioned the girl if she was depressed and would commit suicide without an abortion. She picked up on the clue and answered in the affirmative. Armed with the result of the consult, she had an uneventful abortion performed by an OB/GYN surgeon in the hospital’s operating room. She was discharged within a day without any complication.

A month later, I saw a 15-year-old African-American girl in the emergency room from the poor side of Main Line with high fever and vaginal bleeding. She confessed to me that she was pregnant and, in desperation to not the have the baby, she had inserted a wire hanger into her vagina in an attempt to provoke an abortion. She was rushed into the operating room for an emergency exploration and found to have a perforated uterus and a horrible infection. In order to save her life she had her uterus and ovaries removed. Even with these radical measures the infection could not be controlled; and after surgery she went into septic shock. Two days later she lost her life. This case has remained vividly in my mind after all these years.

The comparison of the above two cases illustrates the injustice of our laws before Roe v. Wade, when rich women could avail themselves of safe reproductive care, which was not available to the poor — who were left behind with disastrous consequences. As a member of NCJW, I will fight to my last breath for safe reproductive practices available to all women. What we had before Roe v. Wade was an assault on all women, and I witnessed the literally devastating impact it had on the many women doubly harmed by economic injustice. Life before Roe must never be repeated and, thanks to NCJW, should never be forgotten.

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