Reply #18: Becky Bell - here's the info

[Iris]

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/abortion-access/becky-bell-6153.htm

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DB1739F934A15753C1A967958260&sec=health&pagewanted=print

“Like Gianna Jessen, Mr. and Mrs. Bell, the former Homecoming King and Queen at their Indianapolis high school, have a wholesome, all-American appeal. He plays golf, served in the Army Reserves and worked as a salesman; she was a full-time homemaker after their children were born, and volunteered as a teacher's aide at a local elementary school.

But since their daughter's death, they have spent most of their time working to spread her story, telling how they would once have supported parental notification laws, certain that in their tight-knit family, Becky would want to tell them if she were pregnant and considering an abortion.

Then they tell of the Saturday night she came home ill, her refusal to see a doctor until the following Friday, the rush to the hospital where Becky lost consciousness and died, and the shock of being told she had died from a septic abortion. They have appeared on "60 Minutes," walking through their daughter's graveyard and talking about how they blame the law for their daughter's death. Their story has appeared in a variety of publications, including Seventeen magazine and Rolling Stone.

Mrs. Bell tells, vividly, about finding a note from Becky, after her death, saying that she wished she could tell her parents everything, but that she had to "deal with it" herself because, "I can't afford to lose you, too." The Becky Bell Campaign

For a year, ending in July, the Bells were under contract with the Fund for the Feminist Majority, receiving $500 a week for their efforts to prevent parental notification laws. Last fall, the Fund started The Becky Bell Campaign, selling bracelets with her name on them, like the ones worn after the Viet Nam war to keep alive the fight to recover prisoners of war.

The Fund credits the Bells for the defeat of the Oregon referendum last year, the nation's first state referendum on parental notification. A few months before the election, polls had shown opposition at 22 percent to requiring parental notification, but after the Bells' tour, including rallies, television appearances and talk shows, 52 percent of the voters supported teen-agers' free access to abortion.”