Probably the most significant issue of the Women’s Movement, and certainly the most controversial and emotional, was the call for reform of abortion laws. In 1967, only Colorado had liberalized its 19th-century legal statute that made abortion a criminal offense. New York joined Colorado in 1970 and by mid-1971 eleven other states had enacted laws that permitted abortion in the case of rape or incest or when the physical or mental health of the mother was threatened. (Carroll, p. 27.) Where abortion was not available legally, women often sought black-market services or, if they could afford it, went to places where the services were legal.
“Back Alley Surgery,“ written and sung by Malvina Reynolds (1978), is a song Reynolds wrote to protest a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing restrictions on Medicaid funding of abortion, suggesting it would cause poor women to turn to unsafe means. (http://www.vagalume.com.br/malvina-reynolds/back-alley-surgery.html)
Supreme Court sits in Washington
Every one a mother’s son.
Women’s fate is lost and won
Behind that heavy door.
The justices preside in noble ease,
None of them ever suffers pregnancies,
So they hand out decisions such as these:
Back alley abortions for the poor.Yes, back alley surgery kitchen knife solutions,
Wire hanger abortions for the poor.Well-to-do people can manage well,
Anything they need they can buy and sell,
But the teenage drifter can walk in hell
Or roll on the back room floor.
And the battered children who bruise and bleed,
And the mother with too many kids to feed,
Pro-life offers them in their need
Back alley abortions for the poor.Yes, back alley surgery kitchen knife solutions,
Wire hanger abortions for the poor.
“Judge’s Chair,” is a song about unsafe abortion that Peggy Seeger wrote for the organization formerly known as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL), then the National Abortion Rights Action League, and later the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. It was not well-received by the organization. “They didn’t like [it] at all. It’s not what they wanted. On the other hand, it stops people in their tracks. And it stops me in my tracks when I sing it. What they wanted was an anthem that everybody could join in and sing on.” The song can be found on her “An Odd Collection” album. http://peggyseeger.bandcamp.com/track/judges-chair
I don’t want the boy with the long brown hair
I don’t want the one with the curls
I want Jimmy and the devil may care
and Jimmy’s good with the girlsHe took the girl with the long brown hair
He took the one with the curls
He took me and the devil may care and Jimmy’s good with the girlsCome and walk in the autumn woods
Come and walk in the town
She walked with him to the end of the earth and together they lay downAnnie the light that’s in your eyes
Tells your lover’s name
Annie the hope that’s in your heart will turn to grief and shameSunday Monday passing by
Thursday Friday too
Annie walks in the winter sun a week past she was dueTwo weeks three weeks passing by
Three and four and five
Annie walked in the winter rain and wished that she could dieDecember passed the new year gone
Judgement day has come
The doctor sat in the judge’s chair
And the judges turned her downJimmy won’t walk, Jimmy won’t talk
Jimmy don’t come around
Annie’s gone to a backstreet woman to bring the baby downPain floods into that place
Where love has come and gone
Close the door and close the door
And Annie’s walkin’ homeSlowly slowly up the stair into her childhood room
Her bed filled up with red red blood
Annie died aloneShe won’t have the boy with the long brown hair
She won’t have the one with the curls
She got Jimmy and the devil may care
And Jimmy’s good with the girlsMen sit in the judge’s chair
We are up on trial
Woman if you conceive you must bear your child
In 1973, the abortion issue reached the United States Supreme Court. In the case of Roe v. Wade, a single, pregnant, Texas waitress got assigned the pseudonym “Jane Roe” in order to protect her privacy. She brought suit against the Dallas District Attorney to prevent him from enforcing a 19th-century Texas statute prohibiting abortion. The Supreme Court ruled on the woman’s behalf and struck down the Texas law and all similar laws in other states. In its ruling, the Court declared that the decision to have an abortion is a private matter of concern only to a woman and her physician, and that only in the last three months of pregnancy could the government legitimately limit the right to abortion.
“Rosie Jane,” was written and sung by Malvina Reynolds in support of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. It features a lyrical dialogue between a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy and a condescending doctor. (https://youtu.be/7ofnW2PtQw4)
This song is addressed to my sisters.
Any man who is present may listen,
Any priest, any public official, any physician.
But it gives him no license to touch us,
We make the decision.
Me and Lydia, Josie and Rosie and Eve,
We handle this matter ourselves,
You’d better believe, or you better leave.Chorus:
Rosie Jane, are you pregnant again?
Rosie Jane, you can hardly take care
Of the four you had before.
What in heaven’s name were you thinking of!
Rosie Jane, was it love?I had an extra shot on top of what I’d got,
In a word I was drunk, so it was Bill.
At least I think it was Bill,
And I’d forgot to take my pill.
I guess it was God’s will.Chorus
When that baby is a child,
It will suffer from neglect,
Be picked upon and pecked,
And run over and wrecked,
And its head will be crowned with the thorn.
But while it’s inside her
It must remain intact,
And it cannot be murdered till it’s born.Chorus
Many Americans, including many Roman Catholic lay and clerical organizations and other conservative religious groups, like Jerry Falwell’s “The Moral Majority,” bitterly opposed the Roe v. Wade decision and banded together to form the Right to Life” (pro-life) movement. Right to Life groups over the years since the decision have attempted to restrict and roll-back the scope of the Roe v. Wade decision.
Protests were held against abortion (particularly at doctor’s offices where such services were performed) by the anti-abortion group “Operation Rescue.” The Right to Life movement adopted the tactic of picketing abortion clinics, where they marched with pictures of aborted fetuses, handed out flyers, sang hymns, said prayers, screamed epithets, and otherwise tried to dissuade women from using the services of the clinics. However, some more radical pro-lifers resorted to violence. Occasionally, clinics were burned down, and some abortion providers were killed. There were legislative battles that led to court battles over appropriate protests at clinics.
Elections were often run on this singular issue. Restrictive legislation regarding abortion in state and national legislative bodies was hotly and repeatedly debated. One of the major legislative successes of the Right to Life Movement was the adoption by Congress of the so-called Hyde Amendment, which permitted states to refuse to fund abortions for indigent women. Frequently, courts overturned these legislative and other political activities that attempted to interfere with the “right to choose.”
In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey mandated that states could not impose “undue burden” on access to abortions. However, battles over what constitutes an “undue burden” continue to the present day. Is the requirement that a doctor performing abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital an “undue buden”? Is it an “undue burden” that abortion clinics meet standards for outpatient surgery centers? Is it an “undue burden” for a young women obtain parental consent to have an abortion? Are these regulations intended to improve the health and safety of women? These clarifications will have to be decided by subsequent Supreme Court decisions.
There are literally hundreds of songs about abortion. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_about_abortion.) Given the intense emotions relating to the topic, it was difficult to find measured songs that deal with the various aspects of the situation. Below are some from both perspectives—the right to choose, and the right to life. In order to avoid polemics, only songs that relate to factual circumstances (autobiographical or biographical) and songs that dealt with actual political situations are listed. These songs reflect the intense emotions involved.
“Lost Woman Song,” written and performed by Ani Di Franco (1990) (https://youtu.be/WbNRA9JVMQM) is not political, nor does it proselytize. It provides a sympathetic view of the emotional turmoil that a woman faces in making a decision about whether or not to carry a pregnancy.
I opened a bank account when I was nine years old
I closed it when I was eighteen
I gave them every penny that I’d saved
And they gave my bloodand my urineA number now I’m sitting in this waiting room
Playing with the toys
And I am here to exercise
My freedom of choiceI passed their hand held signs
Went through their picket lines
They gathered when they saw me coming
They shouted when they saw me crossI said why don’t you go home
Just leave me alone
I’m just another woman lost
You are like fish in the waterWho don’t know that they are wet
As far as I can tell the world isn’t perfect yet
His bored eyes were obscene
On his denim thighs a magazineI wish he’d never come here with me
In fact I wish he’d never come near me
I wish his shoulder wasn’t touching mine
I am growing older waiting in this lineSome of life’s best lessons are learned at the worst times
Under the fierce fluorescent she offered her hand for me to hold
She offered stability and calm
And I was crushing her palmThrough the pinch pull wincing
My smile unconvincing
On that sterile battlefield that sees
Only casualtiesNever heroes
My heart hit absolute zero
Lucille, your voice still sounds in me
Mine was a relatively easy tragedyNow the profile of our country looks a little less hardnosed
But that picket line persisted
And that clinic’s since been closed
They keep pounding their fists on reality hoping it will breakBut I don’t think there’s a one of us
Leads a life free of mistakes
I am not going to sacrifice my freedom of choice.
You can’t make me sacrifice my freedom of choice.
“All My Life,” written and sung by Noel Paul Stookey, here joined by Denny Bouchard, Mary Clarkson, Karla Thibodeau and Kent Palmer in 1990, is a song about a woman receiving different advice on how to respond to an unplanned pregnancy, reflecting the dramatic conflicts involved. (https://youtu.be/p7qR4DumVu8)
She didn’t tell me till the seventh week
Now how was I supposed to know why she was crying
It isn’t even like a kid you know
And if you’re never born it’s not like really dying
I called this guy; he knows this guy
He said ‘bring her down…
And if it ever got around…’‘Congratulations’ the clinic said
“And does your husband know he’s soon to be a father?’
I had to laugh when the line went dead
I mean I could’ve called them back but should I bother now…All my life I’ve been living in Mystery
All my life I’ve been waiting for you
Soon my life will become a reality
And new…We run a service here; we keep it clean
We don’t do anything without a doctor’s orders
And if a couple of ’em lose their dreams
They’d lose a whole lot more than that across the borderYou heard about the one who’s out
The other side of town…
They tried to burn the building down…I’ve got a cousin in New Orleans
She said that if I ever wanted I could move there
Keep the baby and get a job
And if I never finished school well who really cares now…We told her straight; it’s not to late
He’s got to marry you
It’s only for a week or two
Of course we love her; what a thing to say!
I can’t imagine why she kept us all from knowing
And it’ll all be over in a day
Is there a better place the baby could be going now?All my life I’ve been living in Mystery
All my life I’ve been waiting for you
Soon my life will become a reality
And new…
“Baby (Should I Have the Baby?),” written and sung by Cindy Lee Berryhill (1989), is about weighing various reproductive options available to women – abstinence, the birth control pill, abortion. The up-tempo, honky-tonk approach seems out of place, but the song does present dilemmas confronting women. (https://youtu.be/cv8yRGN_Bgw)
Baby, should I mess with you all night,
Baby, should I mess with you all night,
If I mess with you, undress with you, I might have to spend the rest of my life with you
Baby, should I mess with you all nightBaby, should I take the pill, or not,
Baby, should I take the pill, or not
If I take the pill I could get ill, blood clots, fat deposits,
You know what I’m talking about
Baby, should I take the pill, or notBaby, should I have a baby or not,
Baby, should I have a baby or not,
If I have the baby, I think that maybe you’d marry me, carry me, I’d be a lady,
Baby, should I have a baby or not,Baby, should I have an abortion or not,
Baby, should I have an abortion or not,
If I have an abortion, forget about salvation, Pope says no, it’d be blown out of proportion
Baby, should I have an abortion or not,Baby, should I have the baby or not,
Baby, should I have the baby or not,
If I have the baby, I see my life fading, no career for 18 years, you and me would be 80
Baby, should I have the baby or not,
Baby, should I have the baby or not?
“Unborn Child,” sung by Seals and Crofts, written by Dash Crofts’ sister-in-law, Lana Bogan (1974), asks women considering abortion to rethink their decision. Commenting on the song, Crofts said, “It is our effort to make people aware of when life begins, which we feel is at conception. We feel that each soul has the right to grow without the development being prevented.” (https://youtu.be/uYuBYXvAiYY)
Oh little baby, you’ll never cry, nor will you hear a sweet lullabye.
Oh unborn child, if you only knew just what your momma was plannin’ to do.
You’re still a-clingin’ to the tree of life, but soon you’ll be cut off before you get ripe.
Oh unborn child, beginning to grow inside your momma, but you’ll never know.
Oh tiny bud, that grows in the womb, only to be crushed before you can bloom.Mama stop! Turn around, go back, think it over.
Now stop, turn around, go back, think it over.
Stop, turn around, go back think it over.Oh no momma, just let it be. You’ll never regret it, just wait and see.
Think of all the great ones who gave everything
That we might have life here, so please bear the pain.Mama stop! Turn around, go back, think it over.
Now stop, turn around, go back, think it over.
Stop, turn around, go back think it over.
“In the Morning,” written and sung by Anika Moa (2005), is about the abortion she had when she was 20. The listener can decide how she reacts to that decision. (https://youtu.be/fx3P3jRKZQg)
All this conversation has lifted my spirits
I will go to the park to make up my own mind
Silly, silly future it sits inside my spine
It will make a family resolved in your own kindAll I ever wanted was to be near a face
In the morning, in the morning
After the operation my heart will become erased
And I will miss you, I will miss youBleed, bleed, bleed, bleed, that’s all I ever do
A built in sunroom for everyone to frame
I’m so lucky to have a great career
But after all the fuss I just wanted to have youAll I ever wanted is to be near a face
In the morning , in the morning
After the operation my heart will become erased
And I will miss you, I will miss youI haven’t thought enough to cry
No I haven’t thought enough to cry
“My Story (Please Forgive Me),” written and sung by Jean Grae (2008) is a very realistic autobiographical rap song about the abortion Grae had at age 16. Grae says her intent with the song was to give listeners a vivid picture of her experience: “The whole idea of it was, no, I wanted to do a song that was this real about it. Taking you into the room. The anesthetic. You’re going through the whole process, especially experiencing it as a teenager. And not having anyone to share that with.” (https://youtu.be/2JvtctAsmGg)
If I could swim a thousand lakes to bring your life back
I write that, but infinity can’t rewind facts
You are divinity
My primitive mind was struggling
Just to understand the meaning of life, forgive me
I never told my mommy, I couldn’t break her spirit
She always wished her daughter, extraordinary thinking
So I traveled alone, young, sixteen got in the habit of not stayin’ at home
Doing the sad walk like
Bill Bixby, a dollar fifty
Trips to the hospital so that Medicaid could fix me
I couldn’t eat shit. I fainted frequent. On cold floors and I pause and I think, keep it
I’m lost, my four friends know
And just fuck at the boys’ apartments for rent, so
I’m all wishin’ that it’s a dream ending soon
I’ve actually erased a lot that I’ve been throughChorus:
See when the rain comes down, I know it’s fallin’ for me, and only for me
And when the pain comes around, there’s nowhere else I rather would be
I know what I’ve done, Please forgive meNow all my bitter homies sayin’ that’s what men do
Feelin’ retarded for seeing partner potential
On top of that, the doctors telling me a heart murmur
I can’t take it; I’m contemplating a Glock burner, a cop murderer
I can’t be, this can’t be
The tears streaming and I can’t see, they lance me
And I’m passin’ out, and this is just for blood
They had to cover the mass amounts, I’ve had enough
And you don’t know what it’s like in waiting rooms
And outside their picketing pictures could slay you
Their screamin’ victims, and spitting till they shame you
I hold my head low and shiver push my way through
They put you in a room, where you can change into
Your gown and shower cap, shaking as a fiend would do
And that’s when you think of leaving, fleeing the building and then they call you and you hear the call of your children
They count down from ten now, you wanna stop ’em but you say it in your head, your out for the cut
Then you wake up in another room with plenty others
They call it recovery; you’re thinkin’ we ain’t mothers
And then prescription pills, written a ‘scrip with chills
An understatement, you’re dressed but you’re naked still
And your brain won’t think straight
Wait – Can’t finish thisChorus
I kept it bottled up; my parent’s found the pills
Screaming God what have you done?
Cried till I snotted blood, then got a gun
My temper ran quick tho, from the thought, then the worst I was caught in the same place
A year later, for me that’s when hatred started
My faith martyred, I’ve dated a father but farther, then I moved on
Years past, the guilt’s worse and it builds till your heart’s smashed
Then I miscarried 22 age, I was headed to a breakdown
Swallowed up some pills and I laid down
I was a failure at that too, bailed from the rap then but fate took me back in
Sing is a tattoo my fingers attached with
Twenty-seven with three kids that I never met
What if I was Catholic? Wonder if they hate me?
Thinking how their mother could ever murder?
Well take me hell, to the depths where the brimstone chokes me constantly
I am a monster, see
How could I possibly correspond with God when I gave the authority to end that life?
But it’s never over, even if we have a child
They coulda had a brother or sister or both
I’m thinking about another life that almost got close
Prayin’ that in another time we coulda’ changed posts
If I could just reverse time, I would
I don’t know what I would do, honestly it’s not good
I’m sorry
“Woman Child,” written and sung by Harry Chapin (1972), tells the story of a teenage girl who gets pregnant by a cynical, heartless, adult man, probably a musician, and has an abortion with money he provides her. (https://youtu.be/fPw4I8g5_20)
Dripping streetlights and darkened buildings
Wandering, head hung down low
As she’s walking she can’t help wondering
Does her mama know, where will she go?Woman child, your eyes are wild
The rain runs down your hair
Woman child, mercy mild
What will you tell your teddy bear?I turned you on to my solid body
My electric Gibson guitar
My clever fingers, they searched and found out
Exactly where you are, you went too farWoman child, your eyes are wild
The rain runs down your hair
Woman child, mercy mild
What will you tell your teddy bear?It was an early morning phone call
What news have I received
A halting voice is telling me
What we have both conceivedAsking, how the dilemma, how can it be relieved?
I will give you money, honey, I set up a time
You got to go there on your own babe
‘Cause I don’t know that it’s mineOh, woman child
Mama’s little angel’s been defiledTook a taxi to the clinic
Where they do the modern thing
The white coat doctor laid her out
Said, “You won’t feel a thing”You got the sweet salvation
That a little old knife can bring
You don’t have to worry ’bout no offspringWoman child, your eyes are wild
The rain runs down your hair
Woman child, mercy mild
What will you tell your teddy bear?That’s that, go home and take a nap
It’s just a two hundred dollar mishap
It don’t mean a thing, it’s all over now
You can tell your singer to sing
“Hands Clean,” was written and sung by Alanis Morissette. The singer, looking back to when she was a “protégé,” sings about an affair with her “mentor,” a seemingly older man, who obviously manipulated her, noting that it might have been a “supposed crime,” (i.e. statutory or actual rape). (https://youtu.be/qWqvMFGYJKA)
If it weren’t for your maturity none of this would have happened
If you weren’t so wise beyond your years I would’ve been able to control myself
If it weren’t for my attention you wouldn’t have been successful and
If it weren’t for me you would never have amounted to very muchOoh this could be messy
But you don’t seem to mind
Ooh don’t go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crimeWe’ll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you’ve washed your hands clean of thisYou’re essentially an employee and I like you having to depend on me
You’re kind of my protege and one day you’ll say you learned all you know from me
I know you depend on me like a young thing would to a guardian
I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like itOoh this could be messy
you don’t seem to mind
Ooh don’t go telling everybody
overlook this supposed crimeWe’ll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you’ve washed your hands clean of thisWhat part of our history is reinvented and under rug swept?
What part of your memory is selective and tends to forget?
What with this distance it seems so obvious?Just make sure you don’t tell on me especially to members of your family
We best keep this to ourselves and not tell any members of our inner posse
I wish I could tell the world ’cause you’re such a pretty thing when you’re done up properly
I might want to marry you one day if you watch that weight and keep your firm bodyOoh this could get messy
Ooh you don’t seem to mind
Ooh don’t go telling everybody
and overlook this supposed crimeWe’ll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you’ve washed your hands clean of thisOoh this could get messy
Ooh I don’t seem to mind
Ooh don’t go telling everybody
and overlook this supposed crimeWe’ll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you’ve washed your hands clean of this
“Hello Birmingham,” written and sung by Ani DeFranco (1999) (https://youtu.be/3zWNUq5v_v4) is about a women’s clinic that was burned down in 1998.
Hold me down, I am floating away into the overcast skies
Over my home town on election day
What is it about Birmingham?
What is it about Buffalo?Did the hate filled want to build bunkers
In your beautiful red earth?
They want to build them in our shiny white snow
And now I’ve drawn closed the curtains in this little boothWhere the truth has no place to stand
And I am feeling, oh, so powerless
In this stupid booth
With this useless little lever in my handAnd outside my city is bracing
For the next killing thing
Standing by the bridge
And praying for the next Doctor Martin Luther KingIt was just one shot
Through the kitchen window
Just one or two miles from here
If you fly like a crowA bullet came to visit a doctor
In his one safe placeA bullet ensuring the right to life
Whizzed past his kid and his wife
And knocked his glasses right off of his faceAnd the blood poured off the pulpit
Yeah, the blood poured down the picket lines
And the hatred was immediate, yeah
And the vengeance was divineSo they went and stuffed God
Down the barrel of a gun
And after Him
They stuffed his only sonHello Birmingham; it’s Buffalo
I heard you had some trouble down there again
Just calling to let to know
That somebody understandsI was once escorted through the doors
Of a clinic by a man in a bulletproof vest
And no bombs went off that day
So I am still here to sayBirmingham, I’m wishing you all of my best
Oh, Birmingham, I’m wishing you all of my best
Oh, Birmingham, I’m wishing you all of my best
On this election day
“Wisdom Is Watching,” written and sung by Carrie Newcomer (1995) (https://youtu.be/6NpNKsiAchU), is a song that Newcomer wrote in response to the 1993 murder of abortion provider David Gunn, M.D.
He believes he’s right, she believes she’s right
He stepped out of the car, he stepped into the light
He stepped into a war, believing he was right
He believes he’s right, he believes he’s right
He stepped into the circle, he read between the lines
With a blood lust religion saying, “vengeance is mine”
But God is watching, Wisdom is weepingThis is not what was meant, this is not what was said
I am shakin’, it’s crazy and absurd
It comes down to what you love
Not down to who you hurtShe believes she’s right, he believes he’s right
He’s lying on the ground and he’s bleeding out his life
Like an unwilling hero, believing that he’s right
But God is watching, Wisdom is weepingThis is not what was meant, this is not what she said
I’m shaken, it’s crazy and absurd
It comes down to what our love
Not down to what you hurtShe believes she’s right, she believes she’s right
She steps out of the car, she steps out in the light
She steps into a war, believing that she’s right.
Neil Young (with Pearl Jam) also did a critical song about the Gunn murder called ”Song X.” It was written by Andre Young, Melvin Bradford, Alvin Joiner, and Scott Storch. (https://youtu.be/QmOBoF1MPJg) .
Hey ho away we go
We’re on the road to neverWhere life’s a joy for girls and boys
And only will get betterHey ho away we go
We’re on the road to neverRomeo and Juliet
The doctor and his case
Without a plan they left the van
And there were laid to wasteHey ho away we go
We’re on the road to neverThe priest was there with sandy hair
Religion by his side
He saw his law was broken
The punishment was appliedHey ho away we go
Along the road to never
Hey ho away we go
We’re on the road to never[solo]
He held her hand and wished her well
Although his heart was aching
The cameras rolled
The print was bold
The holy war was breaking
It’s hey ho away we go
We’re on the road to never
Where life’s a joy for girls and boys
And only will get betterHey ho away we go
Along the road to never
Hey ho away we go
We’re on the road to never
Hey ho away we go
Along the road to never
Hey ho away we go
We’re on the road to never[solo]
The priest was there with sandy hair
Religion by his side
He saw his law was broken
The punishment was applied