Lost is a harrowing collection of first person accounts of illegal abortions carried out in Australia between the 1940s and 1970s. There are twenty-four stories, varying from two to a dozen pages received in response to a 1985 newspaper advertisement. Over the period of these stories, most abortions were illegal, leading to the development of a lucrative and dangerous private market, complete with a protection racket run by a corrupt police force. Editor Jo Wainer’s introduction provides some context to the first person accounts, and a discussion of the efforts of activists to seek law reform and greater rights for women. Wainer warns that the lessons remain relevant as abortion is still regulated under criminal legislation, at least in the state of Victoria. She comments on the ebb and flow of public opinion in this area, and the need to avoid complacency. The stories themselves provide more than adequate testimony to support Wainer’s concerns.

Amy was seventy when she was interviewed, and described her experiences from the 1940s. As a child she was taught that pregnancy could result from letting a boy put his hand on her leg when she had her period. At the time she married she had no idea what sex involved. Two pregnancies followed in short succession, and Amy resorted to various folk preventatives. She recounts stories of deaths as women sought the services of anyone who promised to procure an abortion. Although Amy’s personal experiences sound traumatic, she comes across as an optimist, stating: “I don’t think abortion is a big deal. I think people are silly about it.” Amy is one of many married women to seek abortions in the era prior to reliable birth control. Another was Julie, who was married in 1953. She didn’t want children, but despite precautions, became pregnant, and was able to find a doctor who provided an abortion. Julie’s account is direct and to the point; she ends by describing her abortion as “the best thing I have ever done”. Other stories are from single women, or unmarried women in relationships who for a variety of reasons sought to end unplanned pregnancies.

Many of the stories contain details about the surreptitious arrangements made so that an abortion could be performed anonymously, with minimal prospect of legal action against the practitioners. So we hear of handwritten directions to attend suburban addresses, take side entrances, and pay cash, often in large sums. Commonly, women would be instructed on what story to tell if they developed complications and needed hospitalization for hemorrhage or infection. It seems that such stories were seldom believed, but served as a functional code to allow the woman to receive medical care.

While most of the stories focus on individual women, there are some recollections from doctors of the conditions in the hospitals where legal abortions were conducted. Male partners also figure as secondary characters, mostly distancing themselves from events, or in some cases proposing marriage as an alternative. There are also some whose harsh treatment of their wives contributed to the decision to terminate a pregnancy. Throughout there is a sense of desperation to conceal a pregnancy, find the money for an abortion, find a willing practitioner, or cope with complications in the aftermath.

The final story is that of Mollie Jamieson, mother of the Carolyn Jamieson who in 1968 was the last woman to die of illegal abortion in Victoria. Carolyn was twenty-one when she sought an abortion, and died under anesthetic. Her mother describes being detained by police who were more interested in the prospect of criminal prosecution than in supporting Carolyn’s grief-stricken parents.

Lost is a valuable piece of social and public health history, and as Jo Wainer notes, a reminder of how recent these events are.

© 2009 Tony O’Brien

Tony O’Brien, RN, MPhil, Senior Lecturer, Mental Health Nursing, University of Auckland, a.obrien@auckland.ac.nz

Keywords: abortion,fiction