Testimony from the Redstockings 1969 Abortion Speakout

The groundbreaking Redstockings 1969 Abortion speakout included stories of women who had obtained a legal abortion (also referred to as a therapeutic abortion) by declaring insanity. This required finding two psychiatrists to certify you as insane, and then presenting your case to a hospital committee.

“The first one [psychiatrist] I saw for approximately eight to twelve minutes.…He came out and said, “Well, what are you going to do if you don't get an abortion?” And I knew what he wanted me to say, and I said, “I'm gonna kill myself.” (audience laughter) And he wrote it down that I was gonna kill myself, and he said “For sixty dollars.” And I said to him, “I don't have sixty dollars.” He said that if I didn't give him the sixty dollars, he would not write the report that has to be given to the obstetrician, then presented before the board.

Then I saw the other one and it's pretty much the same thing. And he said, “Well how much did the other doctor charge?” (audience laughter) … And I said, “Sixty dollars.” And he said, “ I usually charge more for this kind of consultation. It's very hard for me to write the report.” …And I said …”Can I write the report?” (audience applause). And I feel like I'm telling a joke, but let me tell you something. It's no joke … that two psychiatrists wrote that they agreed I should have an abortion.

Meanwhile…I kept getting bigger and bigger. And (the obstetrician) said to me, “It has to be brought before the abortion board at the hospital, and we'll let you know.” Well, one day I was at school, and my sister came, “You have to go to the hospital right now.” Just like that. I had my books, went to the hospital, and was brought up to, the labor room. Meanwhile I hear these women screaming, yelling…They're going to have their babies. I just didn't know what was happening. [T]he nurse comes and she shaves me, and she sticks a needle in your arm and the bottle is hanging there. And I said, “Maybe they're gonna kill me.” (audience laughter) … It's not funny. I honestly thought that maybe this was real – They were really gonna kill me.

Then the doctor came and I was really crying, and he said, “What are you crying about?” I said, “I'm scared.” And he said, “You're scared. You're fine. My job is to bring life into this world, not to destroy it.” And this was a sympathetic obstetrician who was giving me a therapeutic abortion because I was insane.

–a woman testifies about her legal hospital abortion at the 1969 Redstockings Abortion Speakout. Transcript courtesy of Redstockings Women’s Liberation Archives, www.redstockings.org Edited for length and clarity). You can also hear audio from the 1969 hear here: https://archive.org/details/RedstockingsAbortionSpeakoutNewYork1969March21

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