Miss Dorothy Whitmore finds out that she is pregnant, the result of an affair with a married man, Jeremy. She works at a school, and is fired as a result of being pregnant and having an affair. She also loses her housing because she's pregnant, and the nuns find her housing. Jeremy refuses to help her, but does leave her an envelope with some money. She self-induces an abortion with a coat hanger. The next morning, she passes out at the bus stop, bleeding through her dress. The police report to the nuns that she tried to end her pregnancy, saying Gretchen almost didn't survive and that the doctors performed a hysterectomy. The midwife shows up in the hospital to support her. The police interview her in the hospital, asking if she paid anyone for an abortion, and she replies that she didn't have enough money for that. The mifwife asks the sergeant not to arrest her, saying she will never have a family and she almost lost her life. He says that it's not up to him, but that his superiors will likely not prosecute since they are after a local abortion provider. The narrator confirms that that Dorothy Whitmore wasn't charged.
KEYWORDS: Self-induced abortion.