February 6, 2013<\/span><\/em> \u00a0| \u00a0<\/p>\n Like this article?<\/p>\n Join our email list:<\/p>\n When abortion was illegal, women had no choice but to seek out back-alley butchers for what should have been a medical procedure in a sterile environment. If there was a botched surgery and the victim went to a hospital, the police were called and they wouldn\u2019t allow the doctor to provide a painkiller until the patient gave them the information they sought.<\/p>\n In 1962, there was an article in Look<\/em> magazine that stated, \u201cThere is no such thing as a ‘good’ abortionist. All of them are in business strictly for money.\u201d But in an issue of my magazine, The Realist<\/em>, I published an anonymous interview with Dr. Robert Spencer, a truly humane abortionist, promising that I would go to prison sooner than reveal his identify.<\/p>\n Spencer had served as an Army doctor in World War I, then became a pathologist at a hospital in Ashland, Pennsylvania. He went down into the shafts after a mine accident, and aided miners to obtain Workmen\u2019s Compensation for lung disease. At a time when 5,000 women were killed each year by criminal abortionists who charged as much as $1,500, Spencer’s reputation had spread by word-of-mouth, and he was known as the “Saint.” Patients came to his clinic in Ashland from around the country.<\/p>\n I took the five-hour bus trip from New York to Ashland with my gigantic Webcor tape recorder. Dr. Spencer was the cheerful personification of an old-fashioned physician. He wore a red beret and used folksy expressions like \u201cby golly.\u201d He had been performing abortions for 40 years. He started out charging $5, and never more than $100. He rarely used the word “pregnant.” Rather, he would say, \u201cShe was that way, and she came to me for help.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashland was a small town, and Dr. Spencer’s work was not merely tolerated; the community depended on it — the hotel, the restaurant, the dress shop — all thrived on the extra business that came from his out-of-town patients. However, he built facilities at his clinic for African-American patients who weren’t allowed to obtain overnight lodgings elsewhere. The walls of his office were decorated with those little wooden signs that tourists like to buy. A sign on the ceiling over his operating table said “Keep Calm.”<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an excerpt from our dialogue:<\/p>\n Q. Do you have any idea how many actual abortions you\u2019re performed during all these years?<\/p>\n A. To be accurate, it\u2019s 27,006<\/p>\n Q. Have medical people come to you, who would otherwise shun you?<\/p>\n A. Oh, yes, I\u2019ve had medical people who bring me their wives, and I\u2019ve had quite a few medical people send me patients.<\/p>\n Q. But they wouldn\u2019t perform the operation themselves?<\/p>\n A. No, they\u2019d never perform it, and just exactly what their attitude would be, I don\u2019t really know. Some of them, I presume, were absolutely against it, because I\u2019ve had ministers, and they\u2019d bring me their daughters or their nieces.<\/p>\n Q. Have police come to you for professional services?<\/p>\n A. Oh, yes, I\u2019ve had police in here, too. I\u2019ve helped them out. I\u2019ve helped a hell of a lot police out. I\u2019ve helped a lot of FBI men out. They would be here, and they had me a little bit scared–I didn\u2019t know whether they were just in to get me or not.<\/p>\n Q. What would you say is the most significant lesson you\u2019ve learned in all your years as a practicing abortion doctor?<\/p>\n A. You\u2019ve got to be careful. That\u2019s the most important thing. And you\u2019ve got to be cocksure that everything\u2019s removed. And even the uterus speaks to you and tells you. I could be blind. You see, this is an operation no eye sees. You go by the sense of feel and touch. The voice of the uterus. But the only thing I can see is hypocrisy, hypocrisy. Everywhere I look is hypocrisy, Because the politicians–and I\u2019ve had politicians in here–they still keep those laws in existence, but yet, if some friend of theirs is in trouble\u2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Publishing a satirical magazine led Krassner to run an underground abortion referral service.<\/p>\n February 6, 2013<\/span><\/em> | <\/p>\n Like this article?<\/p>\n Join our email list:<\/p>\n When abortion was illegal, women had no choice but to seek out back-alley butchers for what should have been a medical procedure in a sterile environment. If there was a botched surgery and the victim went to a hospital, the police were called and they wouldn’t allow the doctor to provide a painkiller until the patient gave them the information they sought.<\/p>\n In 1962, there was an article in Look<\/em> magazine that stated, “There is no such thing as a ‘good’ abortionist. All of them are in business strictly for money.” But in an issue of my magazine, The Realist<\/em>, I published an anonymous interview with Dr. Robert Spencer, a truly humane abortionist, promising that I would go to prison sooner than reveal his identify.<\/p>\n Spencer had served as an Army doctor in World War I, then became a pathologist at a hospital in Ashland, Pennsylvania. He went down into the shafts after a mine accident, and aided miners to obtain Workmen’s Compensation for lung disease. At a time when 5,000 women were killed each year by criminal abortionists who charged as much as $1,500, Spencer’s reputation had spread by word-of-mouth, and he was known as the “Saint.” Patients came to his clinic in Ashland from around the country.<\/p>\n I took the five-hour bus trip from New York to Ashland with my gigantic Webcor tape recorder. Dr. Spencer was the cheerful personification of an old-fashioned physician. He wore a red beret and used folksy expressions like “by golly.” He had been performing abortions for 40 years. He started out charging $5, and never more than $100. He rarely used the word “pregnant.” Rather, he would say, “She was that way, and she came to me for help.”<\/p>\n Ashland was a small town, and Dr. Spencer’s work was not merely tolerated; the community depended on it — the hotel, the restaurant, the dress shop — all thrived on the extra business that came from his out-of-town patients. However, he built facilities at his clinic for African-American patients who weren’t allowed to obtain overnight lodgings elsewhere. The walls of his office were decorated with those little wooden signs that tourists like to buy. A sign on the ceiling over his operating table said “Keep Calm.”<\/p>\n Here’s an excerpt from our dialogue:<\/p>\n Q. Do you have any idea how many actual abortions you’re performed during all these years?<\/p>\n A. To be accurate, it’s 27,006<\/p>\n Q. Have medical people come to you, who would otherwise shun you?<\/p>\n A. Oh, yes, I’ve had medical people who bring me their wives, and I’ve had quite a few medical people send me patients.<\/p>\n Q. But they wouldn’t perform the operation themselves?<\/p>\n A. No, they’d never perform it, and just exactly what their attitude would be, I don’t really know. Some of them, I presume, were absolutely against it, because I’ve had ministers, and they’d bring me their daughters or their nieces.<\/p>\n Q. Have police come to you for professional services?<\/p>\n A. Oh, yes, I’ve had police in here, too. I’ve helped them out. I’ve helped a hell of a lot police out. I’ve helped a lot of FBI men out. They would be here, and they had me a little bit scared–I didn’t know whether they were just in to get me or not.<\/p>\n Q. What would you say is the most significant lesson you’ve learned in all your years as a practicing abortion doctor?<\/p>\n A. You’ve got to be careful. That’s the most important thing. And you’ve got to be cocksure that everything’s removed. And even the uterus speaks to you and tells you. I could be blind. You see, this is an operation no eye sees. You go by the sense of feel and touch. The voice of the uterus. But the only thing I can see is hypocrisy, hypocrisy. Everywhere I look is hypocrisy, Because the politicians–and I’ve had politicians in here–they still keep those laws in existence, but yet, if some friend of theirs is in trouble….<\/p>\n<\/div>\nStay up to date with the latest headlines via email.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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