Image by Getty Images

Image by Getty Images

We never spoke about it again, until that day in the hospital. She explained to me then that her fury had been rooted in her terror for my well-being. In fact, I was able to access abortion services at a local Planned Parenthood clinic in New York City and pay for it based on the clinic’s sliding scale fees. While I deeply wished that my contraceptive device hadn’t failed all those years ago, I was fortunate enough to have the ability to make my own decision to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, to afford safe medical care and continue with my life plans.

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The story was quite different for my grandmother, as I learned that day. As a nine-year-old child, my mother witnessed her own mother almost bleed to death from a “back alley” abortion. My grandmother already had five children, and, as poor immigrants, the family didn’t have the resources to support another child. Because abortion was illegal at the time, she had very few choices for terminating her pregnancy. As my mother tells it, after the abortion, my grandmother began howling in pain and bleeding profusely. Unable to bear it, my grandfather left the apartment, leaving my mother to witness the agonizing scene. My mom recalled her terror as she saw her mother bleeding and screaming, certain that she would die.

Supreme Court Justice: In July, 2009, nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor listens to questions during confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Image by Getty Images

Almost 41 years after Roe v. Wade, it remains critical that pro-choice advocates from the faith community actively urge our leaders to ensure every woman has full access to her reproductive rights. Our legislators must understand that people of faith are calling to protect a woman’s religious liberty and reproductive rights, as well as her health and economic security. As my mother’s memory pained her, it propelled me to action, especially through the National Council of Jewish Women. As an NCJW local and national board member and state policy advocate, I will continue to demand reproductive justice in the halls of the legislature and in the public square.

— Claire, 65, California

Silent No More

— Readers’ Abortion Stories

• Mah Ramsey Got Arrested – by Kathleen Peratis, 71, New York

• I Was Almost Aborted Before the Holocaust; I Survived – by Alfred, 75, District of Columbia

• Forming a Spiritual Being – by Stosh Cotler, 48, New York

• Saving Lives at the University of Florida – by Michael, 73, New Jersey

• Not Worth a Gamble — by Carol, 71, Arizona

• Double Jeopardy for One Teenager — by Karen, 56, Georgia

• A Law Student’s Brutal Dilemma – by Victoria, 64, New York

• A Masked Man at a Farm Near Baltimore, Then a Happy Ending With Boxer Shorts – by Rosalyn, 70, Maryland

• In Brazil, Abortion Is Still Illegal – by Ana, 58, Brazil

• In a Back Alley of Tijuana – by Nancy, 75, Israel

• From Generation to Generation – by Claire, 65, California

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