Shortly after abortion was legalized, abortion clinics were set up throughout New York City. Many of them were not run by qualified providers, in fact, many of the back alley abortionists simply hung up their shingles and started performing abortions legally. The state did not take any role in regulating these clinics. One abortionist and abortion-rights crusader said the following:
“What I realized was that the first accident would be the toughest to defend, and the longer we could put off the first accident, the first death, the first perforation, the first infection, and get more experience and credibility under our belt, the better off we were going to be.”
He knew it wasn’t a matter of whether there would be complications, but a matter of when.
Carole Joffe. Doctors of Conscience: the Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe Versus Wade (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon press, 1995)
Share on Facebook