"I think a big part of the reason why we're seeing these draconian laws is because it's been 50 years since," she said."A few generations have grown up and enough people in today's society don't remember what it was like. ... They don't remember."
In 1969, abortion was illegal in Texas, except to save a pregnant woman's life — as it is again now. This week, several more states are, which had legalized abortion nationwide in 1973Some bans, in states including Tennessee and Ohio, include no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors who perform illegal abortions can often face jail time.While the rape itself was thoroughly documented by Amarillo police at the time, no such records of Elaine's abortion appear to exist.
"Something like this, where the patient knows the doctor, the doctor knows the patient and the family – they could be very sympathetic in this situation, which means they would do it," she says."My guess would be he probably never wrote anything down about this – because, why would he?" NPR spoke with two family members who say they remember hearing about the rape for years, including one who recalls discussing the abortion more recently."This is the result — this is going to be one of the results," Reagan says."The other results are some people will go all the way through pregnancies and bear children and will be forced into birth."