Abortion Depicted In Call The Midwife

“Call the Midwife” is a BBC television series that focuses on the lives of midwives and nuns living and working in the poverty-stricken area of London in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Episodes focus on all kinds of issues, ranging from interracial relationships to birth defects and poverty. Season 2, episode 5 is centered around abortion. One of the nurses, Jenny, has a patient, Nora Harding, who realizes that she is pregnant with her ninth child. The family already struggles as it is, and Nora is distraught with the idea of trying to feed yet another child. When this episode is set, abortion is illegal in England, so Nora turns to other avenues to terminate the pregnancy. She tries many homemade tricks, such as taking Epsom Salts. Nora is not allowed to become sterilized, even though she fully consents to it, and cannot afford and does not have access to proper contraception. Jenny warns Nora that she is “more likely to hurt [herself] than the baby [she’s] carrying” by trying to perform a self-abortion. But, Nora tells her husband that “I’m gonna get rid of it if it kills me. Because if I can’t get rid of it, I’m gonna get rid of myself.” Eventually, she pays money that she can’t spare to an abortionist who ends up making her sicker by using unsterilized instruments. Nora suffers from blood loss and a perforated uterus, but her life is saved in the end. The midwives tell the doctors that Nora had a miscarriage, instead of letting on that she had an illegal abortion.
Even though it is set in 1950’s London, it can still be applied today. Seeing the story from Nora’s perspective, and from the nurses who help her, made this issue more personal, and the impact more seem more immediate and