This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends.
Photograph was edited for publication purposes Photograph article dated February 13, 1961 partially reads, "Mrs. Martha Gaines bit her fingernails as she waited in the darkened parking lot of a Van Nuys supermarket. She felt sick and worried - about her four young children at home and about the appointment she was keeping. A car drove up. It was an unimpressive model, its license plate bent to hide the number. A man got out, hat pulled over his eyes, jacket collar turned up. 'Mrs. Gaines?' he asked. 'I'm Mrs. Gaines.' 'Get into the back seat.' Martha Gaines began her trip to an illegal abortionist. Nearly 1,000,000 United States women make the journey every year." An anguished mother writes of daughter's abortion. The anonymous letter to police tells of tragic outcome.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Letters Abortion--United States Pregnancy, Unwanted--California--Los Angeles Abortion--Complications--California--Los Angeles Abortion services--California--Los Angeles Van Nuys (Los Angeles, Calif.) Valley Times Collection photographs
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