As a child growing up in the 1970s, my mother told me frequently that she would have aborted me if abortion was legal in 1969. Four years before Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal throughout the United States.
My parents got friendly during Thanksgiving weekend in 1968. After the New Year, they knew that they had — in today’s vernacular — an “oopsie” baby. An unplanned pregnancy by an older couple (my father was 34, my mother was 29) with an older child (my brother was 13).
The doctor told my mother that she was expecting twins.
A day after my maternal grandfather’s birthday in early August, she delivered a ten-pound bowling ball in one hour. I was so big and came out so fast that she needed 250 stitches. The latter she would hold against me for years to come.
My father stopped drinking and got a vasectomy. My mother started drinking and became an alcoholic.
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