There’s a dedication at the beginning of Gloria Steinem’s memoir My Life on the Road which, once read, is hard to forget. I’ve thought about it a lot since I first came across it – the book was published in 2015, the year before Donald Trump was elected for his first term in office and would set about rolling back American women’s reproductive rights. It is worth quoting in full: “Dr John Sharpe of London, who in 1957, a decade before physicians in England could legally perform an abortion for any reason other than the health of the woman, took the considerable risk of referring for an abortion a 22-year-old American on her way to India.
Knowing that she had broken an engagement at home to seek an unknown fate, he said, ‘You must promise me two things. First, you will not tell anyone my name. Second, you will do what you want to do with your life.
’ Dear Dr Sharpe, I believe you, who knew the law was unjust, would not mind if I say this so long after your death: I’ve done the best I could with my life. This book is for you.” Just reading it again, in light of Trump’s shocking but sadly unsurprising election victory this week, is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Since the overturning of Roe v Wade , millions of American women in many US states (13 states have a total abortion ban, 28 states have abortion bans based on gestational duration) have been deprived of the chance to “do what they want with their lives”. Worse, they have been deprived of the.
