Wealhtheow’s Reviews > Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict that Divided America > Status Update

Holy crap, I had never heard of the "family cap" that wiki tells me 23 US states have on welfare as of 1992, which deny welfare and other benefits to women on public assistance who have additional children. Effing despicable.

1988: 200 protestors block entrance to clinic. Police are there, but make only 2 arrests over entire day. Next day, 400 demonstrators came. Officers take their time, claim they lack a formal written complaint. When finally charged, its only trespassing, a minor violation without much fine or any jail time.Judges dismiss hundreds of charges because of minor technicalities.Without enforcement, more and more protestors.

Joseph Scheidler anti-choice activist, hired a private detective to track an 11year old whose mom had scheduled an abortion for her, then mounted a balcony to shout at the mother thru a bullhorn, then organized a picket line against the mom and her 11 year old pregnant daughter.

Because clearly harassing and terrorizing a child and her family is more Christian than, I dunno, harassing the rapist?

When Roe v Wade passed, Republicans signed abortion bills into law, were deciding judge, etc. More republicans than democrats supported a women's right to choose abortion during 1st trimester, thanks to opposition to government intervention. This changes when conservative strategists Scammon, Wattenberg, Buchanan tell Nixon to use social issues to defeat Democrats

1860-1880, AMA crusades to get abortion banned to drive non-doctor healers out of business. Also fueled by anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant fear.
But tho abortion became illegal, of course it was still performed. No national surveys, but estimated that the ratio of abortions to live births was somewhere between 1:2 and 1:6--rates close to modern US. Meanwhile illegal abortions cause 1/4 of maternal deaths.