'On The Line' podcast: An illegal warehouse abortion in 1966
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On The Line
Host: Cary Junior II
Producers: Cary Junior II and Darcie Moran
Executive producers: Anjanette Delgado and Maryann Struman
Guests: Free Press columnist and editorial board member Nancy Kaffer; Michigan Radio reporter Sarah Cwiek; and Renee Chelian, Northland Family Planning Centers founder
Theme song: "Fort Trumbull" by DJ LostBoy, Detroit
Email: ontheline@freepress.com
On this episode: At 15 years old, Renee Chelian considered suicide. In fact, she got herself all ready to do it. Then, she thought of her parents finding her. She stopped.
At the time, in 1966, she was pregnant and terrified to tell them.
She would wind up letting them know and forgo marrying her 16-year-old boyfriend to get a then-illegal abortion in an oil-stained warehouse somewhere in metro Detroit.
On the latest episode of the "On The Line" podcast, reported by the Detroit Free Press and Michigan Radio, Chelian tells the story of her abortion before the 1973 landmark ruling Roe v. Wade affirmed her right to the procedure. Chelian, too, talks of her concerns, now as an abortion clinic founder, since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this month.
Host Cary Junior II discusses Chelian's journey and what the advocate says is at stake with Michigan Radio reporter Sarah Cwiek and Free Press columnist and editorial board member Nancy Kaffer.
"On The Line" is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Podcasts.
For more:
Opinion: She had abortion in Detroit warehouse. It inspired 50 years of service.
Joy, devastation, fear: Michigan women react to the fall of Roe v. Wade
Gov. Whitmer again asks court to take up abortion suit, citing shifting BHSH stance
Michigan ballot initiative seeks to guarantee abortion rights after Roe v. Wade decision
Faith leaders and activists in Michigan react to Supreme Court's abortion decision
These Mich. prosecutors will not charge women who have abortions, or doctors who perform them
Michigan medical community grapples with providing abortion care after Roe v. Wade ruling
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'On The Line' podcast: An illegal warehouse abortion in 1966
