Hello, friends. Welcome. Welcome to episode five in our series about the 1970s

mayhem. Norma Nelson's father left when she was nine years old. Her mother suffered from

alcoholism and frequently abused Norma.

Norma dropped out of school in ninth grade, ran away from home, and was eventually made a ward.

She was sent to Catholic boarding school where she was sexually assaulted by one of the nuns and then by a family member.

She married Woody McCorvey, who beat her when he learned that she was

pregnant. After giving birth, Norma surrendered custody of her baby to her mother and began

abusing drugs and alcohol. Eventually, Norma became pregnant again and placed that baby for adoption,

left her abusive husband only to find herself pregnant for a third time at age 21.

And this time, she wanted an abortion.

But before Norma could figure out what to do next, she met two ambitious women, gained a pseudonym, and became part of one of the most famous court cases in U.S. history, which of course was decided in

1973.

I'm Sharon McMahon, and this is the Preamble Podcast.

Abortion was largely considered a private issue in the United States until 1857, although some states like Connecticut made rules banning it after quickening or when the mother began to feel fetal movement.

Medicinal remedies for pregnancy were advertised in newspapers, sometimes coded as quote-unquote

relief for ladies. A woman might buy a little tin of 20 penny royal pills for $2, which is about

$72 today, either over the counter or through the mail. This kind of thing happened for decades.

And of course, women and midwives were using herbs to try to control conception and abortion

for centuries before this.

Anti-Vice Crusader Anthony Comstock was determined to put a stop to these practices.

If women were allowed to access

birth control, they would have relationships outside of marriage, and Comstock's religious

...