Posted by:
Nightingale
(
)
Date: May 05, 2022 01:58PM
I heard Gloria Allred on CBC this morning. I knew of her work as a campaigner for women’s rights and have heard and seen her statements in many high profile cases. I didn’t know of her personal story that was the impetus for the work she does with such passion and understanding.
Here's an article from CNN about Gloria (2019):
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/22/us/gloria-allred-abortion-protests/index.htmlExcerpts:
“Women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred is opening up about an abortion she had in the 1960s after she was raped at gunpoint in Mexico.”
“The sexual assault happened while Allred was on vacation in her 20s, she said, and forced her to get an illegal abortion after she returned to the United States.
“I had to get a back-alley abortion in a bathtub from a person who was not licensed, they were just doing it for the money,” she said. When she started hemorrhaging after the procedure, the person who performed the procedure told her it was her problem now, she said.
“The attorney said she knows from experience what happens when abortion is criminalized. During her ordeal, she was hospitalized with a fever of 106 degrees – surrounded by women who’d had illegal abortions, she said.
“The only time a hospital would admit a woman like me was if she was bleeding to death from an abortion,” she said. “The nurse said to me, ‘This should teach you a lesson.’ The lesson I did learn is that abortion should be safe, legal, affordable and available.”
CBC Article (2019):
“Lawyer and feminist Gloria Allred talks about the rape and resulting abortion that galvanized her determination to fight for women's rights. "A woman shouldn't have to be ashamed," she tells CBC's Rosemary Barton.”
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1242190915728-----
I confess to making assumptions when I heard Gloria say she was raped in Mexico. A major detail was included in the CBC interview that I don’t see in the CNN article – that her rapist was a doctor who during their date stopped in the hospital to check on patients, then subsequently raped her at gunpoint. After she returned home she discovered she was pregnant, which led to her seeking an abortion.
It’s easy for people to say it’s not “the child’s” fault their sperm source was a rapist so the female should not abort the pregnancy. But it should be perfectly understandable that she does not want to carry and birth his child. It should be obvious that rape is an exceptionally violent and traumatic event but that major fact seems overlooked by many in this heated debate.
***SENSITIVE INFO BELOW***
Psychological and Physical Effects of Rape:
https://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/rape/effects-of-rape-psychological-and-physical-effects-of-rapeExcerpts:
“The effects of rape can include both the initial physical trauma as well as deep psychological trauma. Although rape victims commonly report injuries and issues with their reproductive health after the sexual assault, rape doesn't always involve physical force. The most common and lasting effects of rape involve mental health concerns and diminished social confidence.
Physical Effects of Rape
“Physical effects of rape can arise from both forced sexual assault and those not involving forcible submission, such as drug-assisted date rape. Forced sexual assault frequently causes visible bruising or bleeding in and around the vaginal or anal area and bruises on other parts of the body from coercive violence. But both forced and other types of rape can have many other physical consequences:
*Painful intercourse (with significant other)
*Urinary infections
*Uterine fibroids – non-cancerous tumors in muscle wall
*Pregnancy
*Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – HIV, genital warts, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and others
Psychological Effects of Rape
“Victims experience both short and long-term psychological effects of rape. One of the most common psychological consequences of rape is self-blame. Victims use self-blame as an avoidance-based coping tool. Self-blame slows or, in many cases, stops the healing process. Other common emotional and psychological effects of rape include:
*Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – feelings of severe anxiety and stress
*Depression
*Flashbacks – memories of rape as if it is taking place again
*Borderline personality disorder
*Sleep disorders
*Eating disorders
*Dissociative identity disorder
*Guilt
*Distrust of others – uneasy in everyday social situations
*Anger
*Feelings of personal powerlessness – victims feel the rapist robbed them of control over their bodies
Aftermath of Rape
“The aftermath of rape involves a cluster of acute and chronic physical and psychological effects. It's important that victims receive comprehensive care that addresses both the short and long-term effects of rape as they become apparent. Frequently a victim's intimate relationship, if present prior to the assault, disintegrates within one year after the rape. This only adds to the psychological impact of the rape on the victim. Victims of extremely violent rape, or those who were assaulted repeatedly or at a very young age, may need treatment for the rest of their lives.”
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In today's CBC interview, Gloria recalls the nurse's comment to her after the abortion in her 20s, necessitated after a violent assault by a medical doctor: "This should teach you a lesson". "It did teach me a lesson", Gloria said today, "but" [paraphrase] likely not the one the nurse had in mind.
That was when Gloria saw her clear path ahead: to advocate for women's rights, which she continues ably doing to this very day.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2022 02:04PM by Nightingale.