Abortion, birth control, religion and the children.
My husband was born in Canada in the 1940s. His parents were not married when his mother became pregnant. The paperwork on his adoption make it fairly clear both sets of grandparents hated the other family.
At the time, in this part of Canada, birth control was a crime. Abortions did exist but they were also a crime. Unwed mothers were horribly shamed. In most cases if an unwed mother insisted on trying to raise the child, either the government or church authorities would forcibly take the child from her.
Orphanages were busting at the seams. Children were neglected at best and terribly abused at worse. They had little to no rights under Canadian law. They weren't entitled to an education. In the 1990's there were enough of these former orphans who joined lawsuits that Canada passed laws to try and at least in part, make it right.
The stories out there of what became of these children is horrific. My husband was incredibly lucky to have been adopted to a US family. I can't say the track record in the US is any better. Remember, we are right this minute the country unafraid to rip babies away from the arms of their mothers and lock little kids in cages.
I tell you this story because these attitudes and atrocities toward women and children are the very reason why legal abortion and birth control was fought for.
In addition you've got women like me. I was married, I had 2 abortions because the pregnancies when horribly wrong. I was within hours of dying for one of them. I had to travel across the state, but at least it was safe and legal.
I live in Ohio now. They just passed a heartbeat bill. Religion is making the laws again. This will not end well.
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