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In 1964 Gerri Santoro died from an illegal abortion
in a Connecticut motel room. Nearly a decade later, a graphic police photo
of Gerri’s corpse became an important symbol in the 1970s’ fight to keep
abortion legal, appearing on posters, placards, handbills, in books and in
newspaper and magazine articles. It became easy to forget that this was no
manufactured image but a once-vibrant human being who was loved and cherished
by family and friends. LEONA'S SISTER GERRI is the story of the woman
whose life ended in that hotel room. Gerri was a tree-climbing kid who grew
up on the family farm, then a spirited adolescent, a young wife, and later
the devoted mother of two little girls. But she was also a battered wife
who suffered years of abuse before eventually leaving her husband Sam and
their home in California and returning to Connecticut with her children.
There Gerri began an affair with a married man. In 1964 the six-month pregnant
Gerri was terrified by the news that Sam was coming east to see their two
daughters. She and her lover Clyde checked into a motel room, where Clyde
attempted to perform an abortion. The rest of Gerri’s story became a matter
of public record via Clyde’s trial. By the time the police photograph first
emerged at a press conference in January 1973, Gerri had made the transition
from mother and sister to national symbol.
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