Let’s see… my great-grandmother died of complications from an illegal abortion around the year 1900. It even said this was the cause of death, on her death certificate. She was married but her husband was a drunk and had stopped providing for the family, and she didn’t see how she could possibly manage another child. She was so poor she had to borrow a neighbor’s shoes to go to the abortionist. So glad we’re finally returning to the ways of those good old days….

After her death her children, including my grandmother, were brought up by relatives of her husband, some nice elderly aunts or something. My mom found out all this when my grandmother was very old, and finally talked about it; previously no one seemed to know how her mother had died.