This was before the Roe v Wade decision. She started bleeding, so we had a friend come take care of our two young children and I drove her to Martha Jefferson where both of our children were born. It was a Sunday and a nurse got her onto a gurney and said she would call her OB-gyn doctor at home. Over 30 minutes later, the doctor hadn't shown, no one had been back to check on her and the pad on the gurney was soaked with blood so I yelled for someone to come, and then demanded that they get Doctor B. W. here asap.

He came, they rushed her away to the OR. Not too long after that, the doctor came back, said he'd done a D&C and that she would be OK. She also received two units of blood. She's pretty sure she was pregnant, but given that abortions were not legal in VA, they just called it a D&C. If she hadn't been an RN, known by the doctor, I'm not sure what they would have done given the law at that time.

Years later, she was working as an RN in obstetrics at a hospital operated by the RC church when a patient had an ectoptic pregnancy, was in pain and bleeding. The position of the head nurse was they couldn't /shouldn't intervene. My wife was upset and spoke up to the powers that be about the situation; she was fired for doing so.


[Post edited by NJHoo at 04/09/2024 3:17PM]