Alabama woman had an illegal abortion in 1969, doesn’t want women to go back

Libby Rich had an illegal abortion in Birmingham in 1969, after a panel of three male doctors told her she did not qualify for a “therapeutic abortion.” Abortions were illegal in Alabama, Roe v. Wade wouldn’t become the law of the land until 1973, but Alabama women were allowed to have an abortion if a doctor concluded it was a risk to the mother’s health.

Instead, Rich found a woman who would perform an illegal abortion at her home for $300. She received no aftercare information and says she was sent on her way 30 minutes after the procedure. She contracted an infection and scar tissue in her uterus left her unable to have children in the future.

Rich shared her story at a legislative committee hearing in 1991, after the Alabama Senate attempted to enact abortion restriction and then again last month at the March for Reproductive Justice in Kelly Ingram Park.

Reckon caught up with her a few weeks later. This is her story.

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