Supporters of a proposed ballot measure to legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability gathered at a rally hosted by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom on Feb. 6 in Kansas City (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).
What happened to Evelyn?
What happened to Marsha?
These questions still come up among my friends from high school 55 years later. Both disappeared from our high school class after they became pregnant.
The question of how their teenage pregnancies impacted their lives is increasingly on my mind, living in Missouri after the fall of Roe.
I’m a historian who has written extensively about women’s history. I’ve long understood the importance of reproductive choice to women’s ability to support their families and to participate fully in society. And yet, it wasn’t until this spring, as I collected signatures to get the measure that could restore reproductive freedom in Missouri on the November ballot, that I truly faced what it means to have lost choice.
I was moved to tears by men and women who said they signed the petition to protect their daughters and granddaughters, bringing to mind the specter of a new generation of Evelyns and Marshas derailed or disappeared by unintended pregnancies.