And, of course, women had no legal right to terminate a pregnancy until four states - Alaska, Hawaii, New York and Washington - legalized abortion in 1970, three years before Roe v. Marital rape wasn’t legally considered rape. More experienced women shared a workaround with the uninitiated: “Go to Woolworth, buy a cheap wedding-type ring and wear it to your doctor’s appointment. The same applied to birth control - only the married need apply. Women could not get a credit card unless they were married - and then only if their husband co-signed. Women earned about half as much as a man doing the same job and were seldom promoted. The so-called “fairer sex” could not serve on juries and often could not get an Ivy League education. Women in the 1960s endured restrictions relatively unknown to women today. If I had died, what in God’s green earth would have happened to my mom and daughter?”ĭorie Barron with her daughter Christy Marise. “Looking back, I realize I was taking my life in my hands,” said Barron, now an 81-year-old grandmother. “But what was I to do? My mom was taking care of my daughter from her bed while I worked - they would read and play games until I got home,” Barron said.”How was either of us going to cope with a baby? The boyfriend suggested she get an abortion. Her boyfriend, who had no job and lived with his parents, “freaked,” said Barron, who appears in a recent HBO documentary. When the bleeding didn’t stop, her bed-ridden mother made her go to the hospital.Īt 24, Barron was taking care of her ailing mother and her 2-year-old daughter when she discovered she was pregnant. “Then all of a sudden they were gone.”īleeding profusely, Barron managed to find a cab to take her home. They spoke all of three sentences to me the entire time: ‘Where’s the money?’ ‘Lie back and do as I tell you.’ And finally ‘Get in the bathroom,’” when the abortion was over, Barron said.

Suddenly three men and a woman came in the door.

She was told to go to a specific room, sit on the bed and wait. The motel Barron was sent to was in an unfamiliar part of Chicago, a scary “middle of nowhere,” she said. Then it hit her: She had just arranged an illegal abortion with the Chicago Mafia. Don’t be late and don’t forget the cash.” The voice disappeared.ĭorie Barron told CNN she recalls staring blankly at the phone in her hand, startled by the sudden empty tone.

“You can’t afford more than the Chevy? Fine,” the voice growled. A Cadillac was around $500, and the Rolls Royce was $1,000. The voice on the phone in 1966 was gruff and abrupt: “Do you want the Chevy, the Cadillac or the Rolls Royce?”Ī Chevy abortion would cost about $200, cash in hand, the voice explained.

The story of jane laura kaplan