In 1959 when I was 12 a young pregnant woman was staying with a neighbor family before giving birth and going back where she came from. I honestly don’t know much of the story except this:
She was visiting our state, and not planning to stay forever
She fell in love with a young Marine who was stationed there
She got pregnant and he disappeared from her life
She went to see his Commanding Officer, who had the unpleasant task of informing her that there wasn’t going to be any wedding because she was the fifth girl to show up in this condition
So being pregnant in 1959 and having no other choice except giving away her firstborn, she came up with a story to tell the folks back home when she showed up with a baby: “We fell deeply in love, we got secretly married, and he tragically died.”
But, when she got the birth cert, it was stamped ILLEGITIMATE.
My mother was absolutely incensed at the injustice and cruelty, which is when I got told all this. Mom told me that would follow the kid all his days, because there were so many things his mom would have to produce it for, like starting kindergarten, and high school, getting a driver’s license, and getting drafted.
Ah, the good old days, when a woman and her offspring would be punished for life for her having unauthorized sex.
My first was born in 1975, as was yours. I was 21 when I got the Pill — when it was available and legal for me, an unmarried college student getting engaged. I kid you not, stories like that one from 1959 were why I was such a “good girl” in my youth.
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