Gerri Santoro
Geraldine "
Gerri"
Santoro (
née Twerdy; August 16, 1935 – June 8, 1964) was an American woman who died after receiving an
unsafe abortion in 1964. A police photograph of her dead body, published by
Ms., magazine in 1973, became a symbol for the
abortion-rights movement in the United States.
Biography[edit]
Santoro was raised, along with 14 siblings, on the farm of a
Ukrainian-American family in
Coventry, Connecticut.
[2][3] She was described by those who knew her as "fun-loving" and "free-spirited".
[2] At age 18 she married Sam Santoro; the couple had two daughters together.
[3]
Circumstances of death[edit]
In 1963, her husband's
domestic abuse prompted Santoro to leave, and she and her daughters returned to her childhood home. She took a job at Mansfield State Training School, where she met another employee, Clyde Dixon. The two began an
extramarital affair and Santoro became
pregnant.
[2]
When Sam Santoro announced he was coming from
California to visit his daughters, Gerri Santoro feared for her life.
[3] On June 8, 1964, twenty-eight weeks into her pregnancy, she and Dixon checked into the Norwich Motel in
Norwich, Connecticut, under
aliases.
[3] They intended to perform a
self-induced abortion, using
surgical instruments and information from a textbook which Dixon had obtained from Milton Ray Morgan, a teacher at the Mansfield school. Dixon fled the motel after Santoro began to bleed. She died, and her body was found the following morning by a maid.
[2]
Dixon and Morgan were arrested three days later. Dixon was charged with
manslaughter, and Morgan was charged with conspiring to commit an illegal abortion.
[4] Dixon was sentenced to a year and day in prison.
[2][5]
Photograph[edit]
Police took a photograph of Santoro's body as she was found: naked, kneeling, collapsed upon the floor, with a bloody towel between her legs. The picture was used in placards and famously published in
Ms., magazine in April 1973, all without identifying Santoro.
[3][6] The photo has since become an
abortion-rights symbol, used to illustrate that access to legal and professionally performed abortion reduces deaths from
unsafe abortion.
[3]
Leona Gordon, Santoro's sister, saw the photo in
Ms., magazine and recognized the subject.
[7][5
Gerri Santoro - Wikipedia
the photo of her dead on the floor because she bled out is available at this link of Ms, Magazine.
you're welcome for the facts.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
