my foster-aunt, 15, hid her pregnancy
from my grandparents; my mother
helped deliver the child at home I have
told the story in my book but not all
my aunt eventually married the father
he had a scut job on county roads
she cooked for the crew she got pg
again you couldn’t buy birth control
she again didn’t tell parents it was the
start of the great depression no social
security no aca no cash for another
child she aborted herself in that
time-honored way a coat hanger got
septicemia nearly died could never have
another child I grew up with her son
my foster-cousin he was killed in korea
2020 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Century of suffrage.
