When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, my first thought was of my grandmother and the botched illegal abortion that transformed three generations of my family. My mother, Katherine, the fourth of six children, was born in Brooklyn to immigrants from Sicily. Her mother, Rosa, took care of the family and worked as a seamstress from home; her father, Giovanni, earned his living as a shoemaker. They struggled as many poor families did, then and now, to feed and clothe their children. Then Rosa became pregnant with child number seven.
My grandmother’s botched abortion transformed three generations
Her death was listed as ‘manic depressive psychosis,’ and it sent five of her six children to orphanages
Perspective by John Turturro
July 8, 2022 at 3:01 p.m. EDT