A few years ago, who could imagine that a daytime TV show would frankly discuss the subject of abortion? Yet that’s what happened in Hartford, CT, as the wildly popular “Great Day Connecticut” show produced by WFSV-Channel 3 invited me to talk about my latest book, The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill: Abortion, Death, and Concealment in Victorian New England.
You can see the TV segment here.
Scheduled between more typical guests —a psychic and a shopping mall operator — I spoke briefly about my book, stressing that abortion in 1898 Connecticut was widely practiced although strictly illegal. Christina Volpe, curator of the Barnes Museum in Southington, Conn., pointed out that prominent Southington citizens were connected with the disastrous events detailed in my chapters.
Before abortion was safe and legal — as it still is in Connecticut but not in a growing list of states —the “criminal operation,” as it was called, had fatal consequences for one woman in my book and led to severe legal penalties for another. However, as Christina has pointed out, the man who paid for the abortion and his defense attorney went on to bigger and better things, perhaps even benefiting from the widespread publicity surrounding the case.
Two days later, 113 people mobbed my book event in Southington, sponsored by the Barnes Museum, despite nasty weather. There is nothing like the power of TV, especially when supplemented by people at a fine institution like the Barnes and enthusiastic local historians!
Here’s a photo from the book event at Kinsmen Brewing Co. in Milldale, a section of Southington. I was honored to share the stage with local historian and preservationist Liz Campbell Kopec, author of two books about Southington featured in Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series, Southington and Southington: The War Years. Liz included a photo of Emma Gill’s gravestone in one of her books. She also spoke of the abortion case at Barnes Museum cemetery tours, long before I was aware of it. She and her husband, Mark, were my gracious and indefatigable hosts during my time in Southington.
