If you hate abortion, don’t get rid of contraception!
The impetus for my historical novel, The Blue Hour, was the disappearance of a beautiful and popular heiress named Dorothy Arnold in 1910. There were several theories as to why she disappeared; one of them was that she may have been pregnant, undergone an illegal abortion, and died during the procedure. This is one of the theories outlined in an article by writer Heather Monroe in Medium. While not the only theory, its plausibility stems from the fact that there was little to no access to birth control at that time, and abortion became the preferred method of birth control for the wealthy. Poor women were often left to their own devices, and they died in horrific ways, i.e. falling down stairs, wombs punctured by crochet hooks, drinking henna.
And here we are, 110 years later, and the Supreme Court under Justice Roberts is actually making it harder for women to access birth control. As difficult as it is to get a legal pregnancy termination these days, the result once again will be illegal abortions. And needless deaths. It’s called pregnancy prevention for a reason.
