The Worst of Times: Illegal Abortion—Survivors, Practitioners, Coroners, Cops and Children of Women Who Died Talk About Its Horrors.

by Patricia G. Miller

Laura: "My whole body was twitching. I remember thinking, At nineteen, this linoleum is the last thing I'm ever going to see, because I'm dying."

Marilyn: "Let me tell you about my pretty, wonderful, talented mother. She died from an illegal abortion when she was thirty-four and I was six."

Bruce: "I really don't remember much about the first illegal abortion I did, because I was drunk when I did it."

Coroner Fred: "The dead women we saw had either bled to death or they had died from overwhelming infections. Most of them were in their teens or twenties. I don't recall too many older than that. The deaths stopped overnight in 1973."

All the oceans of verbiage and tons of newsprint on the subject of abortion boil down to one simple question. That question is not whether we will have abortions but what kind of abortions we will have. It is a question framed in stark human terms in Patricia Miller's The Worst of Times, which introduces us to dozens of ordinary Americans who have had firsthand experience with illegal abortion: women who survived the pain, humiliation, shame, and terror; motherless children of women who died; doctors who treated the terrible consequences of botched abortions; the abortionists themselves - barbers, midwives, mechanics; and the cops, coroners, and DAs charged with upholding the law.

Abortion is a complex issue, but it is not an issue that exists abstractly in the eyes of ethicists or theologians. It is an issue that exists in the flesh - in the flesh of women with complicated lives and large responsibilities and a whole web of personal, familial, and moral concerns. As The Worst of Times makes powerfully and painfully clear, it is a question that women must be allowed to answer for themselves.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, History, Politics

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Carol]

“The question is not whether we will have abortions but what kind of abortions we will have.”

[Wealhtheow]

A powerful collection of interviews of people who dealt with abortion while it was illegal in the US, from doctors who remember wards full of septic cases dying every day, to people who provided abortions to desperate women, to the police who prosecuted them. In addition, there's a short but comprehensive overview of the history of abortion in the US and basic morbidity and mortality statistics associated with abortion. I felt that Miller took an even-handed, un-biased approach to her interviews, which let the facts and memories speak even more clearly. I would recommend this book to anyone involved in reproductive rights discussions, no matter their beliefs.

[Kess]

This book discusses the experience of different stakeholders in the abortion discussion prior to the passing of Roe v. Wade. I strongly recommend this book to people who are actively considering the abortion issue. It provides a personal and powerful account of the pain illegal abortions can bring and the universal relief sought by women seeking abortion.

[Fishface]

A very chilling read, but not nearly as grisly as I expected based on the jacket copy. This is an oral history of life before "Roe vs. Wade," as seen by women who needed abortions, by the men who may or may not have loved them, by the doctors who turned down their pleas for help, by the abortionists themselves and by the police who hunted them down.

[Stacy]

I wish every member of the house, senate, and supreme court had read this book ... Haunting and immediate, even now, a decade after it was written.

[Jennifer Moran]

This one was heavy, but in a really important way. The Worst of Times looks back on the era of illegal abortion through a collection of interviews with people who lived it firsthand. You hear from survivors, practitioners, coroners, police officers, and even the children of women who didn’t make it. It’s raw, uncomfortable at times, and incredibly eye opening.

What stood out most to me was how deeply researched and thoughtfully put together it was. Patricia G. Miller doesn’t sensationalize anything. She simply lets people tell their stories, and the impact of that honesty is powerful. It’s not an easy read, but it’s such an interesting one because it gives you a fuller picture of a part of history that’s often talked about in whispers or headlines.

Overall, I’m really glad I read it. It’s the kind of book that stays with you and makes you think long after you’ve set it down.

[Bookewyfe]

WE WILL NOT GO BACK.
This book was published in 1993. It’s 2020 now and we are fighting like never before for reproductive justice. This book is filled with horrific and tragic stories, with warnings. Abortion is healthcare, it is normal, and it is necessary. And we demand it without apology.

[Hannah]

Great oral history of the pre-Roe days that illustrates what happens when abortion is illegal. Spoiler alert: women die (or get sick or shamed). Banning abortion doesn't stop abortion - it drives abortion underground, and illegal abortions tend to be dangerous and unsafe. (And thus is the label "pro-life" horrifically ironic. If you hear anyone talk about making abortion illegal or inaccessible, don't be civil with them.)

here's a quote from a doctor remembering a patient who died in 1948/49:

"In those days I thought the solution was to jail the abortionist. It took me another twenty years to fully understand that it was the system and not the abortionist who killed her. The system forced her away from the medical community and into the shadowy world of the illegal abortionist. By the time she got to a doctor, it was too late. The system killed her just as surely as if they had held the catheter or coat hanger or whatever. I'm still angry. It was all so unnecessary."

[Katie_marie]

Patricia Miller makes her case solidly in this book. Through a series of interviews with women who had abortions before it became legal, with underground 'abortionists' and investigators she creates a scary image of what would happen if women lost the right to control their reproduction. The stories of the women are heartbreaking; each one of them desperate and risking their lives, some of them dying, by trusting anyone who would help them. One theme that was almost entirely missing from the accounts was guilt, it may not be the lifetime regret that it is often painted as. If the law changed out of favour for reproductive rights the we would return to some frightening times for women.

[Diane]

This is an excellent book about the realities of illegal abortion. It includes many of the stories which society as a whole would just like to forget, and presents real people talking about their dilemma and their choices, as well as the ramifications of those choices. Abortion is not a cut and dry issue. This makes that statement a real with its portrayals of real people, real situations, real consequences.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

The author is a Pittsburgh resident, and so much but not all of this book presents stories of illegal abortion from the Western Pennsylvania area. The author consulted various officers of the law, people who performed abortions, and women who sought illegal abortions (and their survivors), so I would say that it is probably a fairly balanced portrayal. (This came out of the free books pile.)

[Jerra Runnels]

These stories are so powerful and sad. It gives the reader the sense of desperation women felt, who would go to great lengths to control their own body. Roe v. Wade has helped save so many women's lives. We can not go back to these days!

https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.nyt...

[Liz]

Absolutely devastating and important. It's even sadder to think about how all the hoops people have to go through to get safe, legal procedures now and how those hoops mimick the experiences of people trying to get abortions before it was legal.

[B]

363.46 Explicit accounts of abortions by desperate women before abortions became legal. This kind of information is generally not out there so it's eye-opening.

[Angela]

A phenominal book that chronicles viewpoints of a variety of people who where impacted by the difficult era before abortion was legalized.

[Kara]

I'm not saying this book is going to change anyone's mind, because nothing seems to change people's minds on the issue of abortion, but it's an important book anyway.

[Fay]

Very well researched but too repetitive.

[Elizabeth]

As seen in Mother Jones .

[Jackie]

Wow! This is heartbreaking. I can't even imagine how terrible this was and what it could be like again.