Credit: Heather Booth
Credit: Heather Booth
Three women, Heather Booth, Judy Waxman, Betsey McGee, faced dangerous circumstances and seemingly insurmountable challenges in trying to obtain abortions at a time when they were illegal. Now, amid the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the pro-choice activists reflect on their journey fighting for its passage in the landmark 1973 ruling.
Read more about their personal accounts below.
1. Heather Booth
When Heather Booth was in college in the 1960s, a friend of hers was sexually assaulted at knifepoint in off-campus housing. After going to the University office for help, Booth said, her friend was given a lecture on her “promiscuity.”
Booth sat with her and other women and wouldn’t leave.
“We called it a sit-in. I say this because it’s important to know in what context we were in and what life was like for women. Because we took action, student health now provides gynecological exams.”
Booth later founded the Jane Collective, a secret underground abortion network that provided more than 11,000 secret abortions between the years of 1965 and 1973.
For Booth, that moment was also the beginning of her activism related to Roe v. Wade — the 1973 federal court decision that gave pregnant people the constitutional right to abortion.
“We can show up. We can take action. The 2022 election is coming up. I particularly think people need to be active in their states locally to ensure that we have the Senate, the members of Congress, the governors, the state legislatures, the people who count the ballots, the secretaries of state and the election boards. All of it matters,” Booth said.
2. Judy Waxman
Judy Waxman can recall the scene inside the very courtroom where Roe v.. Wade took place.
“There were a lot of women in there, a lot of women in line,” Waxman said. “ We were all just fingers and toes crossed. And I was just thrilled that this young woman, who was only 26 at the time, was arguing for all of us. It was very thrilling.”
This scene ultimately inspired Waxman’s own trajectory towards reproductive justice — she eventually became a lawyer and the vice president of reproductive rights for the National Women’s Law Center.
Waxman is determined to ensure that future generations don’t slide backwards — especially after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg earlier last year, and the recent passing of Sarah Weddington, the young woman she saw who successfully argued for Roe V. Wade.
“Keep fighting. This is not over, just because the court did this one thing. Women have always figured out ways,” Waxman said.
3. Betsey McGee
Betsey McGee’s second job out of college was at a Planned Parenthood in Massachusetts, where she was hired as a family planning counselor.
“I was soon overwhelmed as was the agency with people coming in for abortions when they weren't legal, when it was very hard to get them,” McGee said.
McGee recalled that it was specifically women without means who had the most to lose — and that those were the individuals who suffered the most.
“If you had plenty of money, you could fly to England. But I believe many people were never helped. It’s a horrifying set of memories about the people that came into that beautiful office of planned parenthood in Boston,” she added.
McGee continued to fight for reproductive rights for 50 years. Now, however, she is fearful about what may happen, especially for women who come from low-income and marginalized communities.
“I think that we have a very strong chance that we are going to go back to a time when abortion, in some parts of this country is very limited. And if the Supreme Court rules in the Mississippi case to shorten the period in which you can have an abortion legally, I think we're facing a number of years of struggle,” McGee said.
For McGee, this critical time is deeply personal.
“It’s a terrible moment to see your life’s work for 50 years being threatened in this way. And it’s not a personal threat so much as a threat to the people around me. Yes, it’s emotional,” McGee said.
The most important thing she’s learned from decades of activism, she said, is to talk about abortion. Loudly.
“We have to keep talking about abortion as a natural part of healthcare for people in this country and around the world. The more we normalize and make it a routine part of what happens in so many people's lives, the more likely it will be that we have laws that respect people’s right to make those decisions for themselves.”
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January 22, 2022 at 06:54AM
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