Gerri Santoro

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Gerri Santoro
Born
Geraldine Twerdy

(1935-08-16)August 16, 1935[1]
Connecticut, United States
DiedJune 8, 1964(1964-06-08) (aged 28)
Connecticut, United States
Spouse
Sam Santoro
​
​
(m. 1953; sep. 1963)​
PartnerClyde Dixon

Geraldine "Gerri" Santoro (

abortion-rights
movement in the United States.

Biography

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

In 1963, her husband's

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

The photograph of Gerri Santoro's body taken by the police.

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

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.

March for Women's Lives in 2004 with her teenage daughter Tara and Gerri Santoro's sister Leona,[8] and blogging in memory of her mother.[9]

In 1995, Jane Gillooly, an

P.O.V. on June 1, 1995. It was later screened at film festivals, opening in the United States on November 2, 1995.[2] In the documentary, Leona expressed that she was initially shocked by the photograph's publication, but that "as years went by... [she] thought it was good that it was printed."[11][7]

References

  1. ^ Bloom, Marcy (June 8, 2007). "The Woman in the Photo". Rewire News Group. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  2. ^
    Norwich Bulletin. Archived from the original
    on May 5, 2007.
  3. ^
    New York Times. Archived from the original
    on March 12, 2016.
  4. The Morning Record. June 12, 1964. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021 – via Google News
    .
  5. ^ a b Arnold, Amanda (October 26, 2016). "How a Harrowing Photo of One Woman's Death Became an Iconic Pro-Choice Symbol". Vice. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  6. ^ Rosenfeld, Megan (November 6, 1995). "The Death of an Ordinary Woman". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Rosenberg, Howard (November 1, 1995). "'Leona's Sister': Transfixing Tale of an Unwilling Symbol". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  8. ^ Williamson, Elizabeth (April 24, 2004). "A Family's March to Redemption: 3 Generations Join Abortion Rights Rally in Honor of Woman Who Died". The Washington Post. p. B1. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010.
  9. ^ "Joannie Santoro, June 8, 2006: Remembering 42 years ago today". Democratic Underground. Archived from the original on January 8, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
  10. ^ Stanley, Jenn (December 3, 2019). "25 Years Later, 'Leona's Sister Gerri' Reminds Us Of The Complexity Storytelling Brings To The Abortion Debate". WBUR-FM. Archived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  11. ^ Gillooly, Jane (director, producer); C.L. Monrose (producer); Kaufman, Jane (producer) (November 2, 1995). Leona's Sister Gerri (Documentary).

External links

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