2 min read

To the Editor:

Many many years ago I was pregnant with my first child. At 5.5 months my water broke and I began to bleed. David took me to my PCP and he inserted the speculum. Blood gushed all over the floor of the examining room. No ambulance was called.
David got me in the car with my mother. She had driven up from New Gloucester and we were living in Dexter. We planned to go crib shopping that day.
My mind must have been playing tricks on me as I  insisted we stop for donuts on the way. David stopped.
The hospital was 20 minutes away.
And than I was in the hospital in a johnny from the exam at the PCP’s. No gurney took me to the second floor and as I stood in the grip of my husband and some strangers I watched the blood run down my leg and pool on the elevator floor. David pulled out a tissue to wipe it up.
Once on the gurney my mother stood above me, pink dress and pearls and looking down on me trying to be a brave and calm mom. I was confused. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening but felt a tear run down my face.
Meanwhile Dr. Dreher approached David who was alone in the waiting room and told him that the baby must be aborted or I would die. David said that there was no choice. He signed the paper for consent.
I survived. My baby who I named Jamison was gone.
I wonder today if I was in a state that has banned abortion if I would be alive.
I am crying now.
Sally Holt
Norway

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