From time to time, we hear from clients of the Clergy Consultation Service, always with very moving–and sometimes harrowing–stories of their experience. Here is a story we received recently from a woman who kindly gave us permission to share it.
In January of 1970, I discovered I was pregnant. I was 16 years old and living outside of New York City. My immediate reaction was no, I will not do this. My father had died a year and a half earlier; my mother had begun recovering from alcoholism six months before. I felt there was no family or community support for a teen having a baby.
I was determined to find a way to rid myself of the pregnancy. I first tried bringing about a miscarriage by being physically reckless — intentionally throwing myself off a fast moving snowmobile at one point.
My 19-year-old sister knew about an illegal abortion clinic in her college town. She took me there to have my pregnancy terminated. After meeting the doctor and seeing the room where the procedure would take place, she became afraid for my safety and refused to let me go through with it.
Somehow, my boyfriend and I found out about CSS, although I don’t remember knowing the name of the organization at the time. We made an appointment and met with a clergyman named Father —– in a basement office at Adelphi University. He agreed to refer me to an abortion clinic. He said that the options were a clinic in Detroit or one in Puerto Rico. He wanted to send me to the one in Puerto Rico because we had the means to pay for the travel (my boyfriend’s parents were paying for it) and wanted to keep the Detroit clinic available for women who could not pay. From what I remember, Father —– made the appointment at the clinic in San Juan for me.
On a winter weekend, when I was 11 and a half weeks pregnant, my boyfriend and I flew to San Juan where I had a D & C, terminating my pregnancy. The story of events at the clinic is itself involved and complicated. . . . The end result was that my pregnancy was successfully terminated. I felt only immense relief. I did not then and never have had any regrets. When I was ready for children, I had two wonderful, well-loved, and wanted daughters.
Throughout the years, I have often thought of Father —– with intense gratitude. He saved me! Recently, I discovered the name of the organization that helped me and began reading your book. I am appalled that Roe was overturned and that we are heading to a national abortion ban, if we aren’t careful.
Thank you so very much to our correspondent for sharing her story. The desperation of the situation and the compassion and bravery of both her sister–only 19 herself!–and the clergy counselor are heart-wrenching. What a different story this would have been only a few months later, in July, when abortion became legal in New York State and the CCS-run Women’s Services opened its doors to provide safe, affordable abortions.
Our correspondent provided the minister’s last name, which was not yet on our list of more than 2000 CCS participants. A bit of research shows that he was an American Baptist minister who died in 2017. We are sorry not to have had the opportunity to talk with him; and because we didn’t, we’ll maintain his anonymity here.
Thank you to all who have shared their stories with us. And if you’d like to share your story about the CCS, you can email us at OfferCompassion@gmail.com. At this political juncture in the U.S., we need to remember each and every one of our relatives and friends who sought abortions in the frightening, dangerous times before Roe and VOTE to make abortion legal, affordable, and accessible in every state. You know what you need to do.
To Offer Compassion 