by Grandmothers | Sep 10, 2019 | Stories
In 1966, when I was 17, I became pregnant. My mother arranged an illegal abortion for me, but I was too afraid to go.I went through Catholic Family Services, and ultimately spent the last 3 months in a facility for unwed moms. While we were very well treated by the...
by Grandmothers | Aug 6, 2019 | Stories
First, it has been a good experience to visit my past. I see today how hard I worked to bury the memories of my abortion experiences, especially the terrible physical pain. I now remember the fear of and during each procedure. Today, with 55 to 65 years of distance, I...
by Grandmothers | Jul 9, 2019 | Stories
In April of 1973 my husband left me, pleading that he had fallen in love with our upstairs tenant and wanted to spend his life with her. I was four months pregnant. Roe v. Wade had been decided three months earlier. My obstetrician sent me to see a social worker to...
by Grandmothers | Jun 5, 2019 | Stories
A year before her death I had asked my maternal grandmother if she would come back to Cincinnati to attend my ordination to the priesthood. She told me that she wouldn’t be able to be present. When I asked her why, she told me that she had been excommunicated...
by Grandmothers | Apr 30, 2019 | Stories
I felt the sun blazing through the one window of the classroom. Sweat ran down my arms and legs, onto the dirt floor. This was even hotter than our August classrooms in the United States. In Tanzania, the heat lasts all year. For me, it would take some getting used...
by Grandmothers | Apr 1, 2019 | Stories
GRR! Kansas organizer, Pam Richardson, shares her grandmother’s story. My grandmother was born in 1893. She had a baby the first year of her marriage and then, immediately got pregnant again. She told me that they could not provide for another child at the...
