The other day I had the pleasure of attending a program featuring author Kate Moore by zoom. My local library had a program in which Moore spoke to us about her book – The Woman They Could Not Silence (2021).

 Perhaps you have heard about this book. It focuses on the story of Elizabeth Packard, a woman who was institutionalized by her husband in 1860. Why was she institutionalized? Well, Elizabeth decided she had opinions as worthy as her husband’s. And she openly disagreed with him after twenty-one years of marriage. Despite the fact that she was the mother to six children who were all well turned out, managed the household perfectly, and was renowned for her gardening skills, her husband was able to get a doctor to say she needed to be hospitalized.

He set up rounds of gossip, purposely abandoned their marital bed, and found doctors who would rubberstamp the papers to have her put away in a mental institution in Jacksonville, Illinois. And because of the laws of the day, Elizabeth could not fight it. She was her husband’s property and he held all the cards.

That did not stop Elizabeth.

While in the hospital, she began to keep a journal using stolen paper and rags along with pencil nubs and pens she happened to acquire. She was able to hide these in her things. She found many of her cellmates were women like her, wives of men with power who had no more use for their wives and had them sent to Jacksonville. When Elizabeth pushed too much for her release or improvements within the hospital, she was sent from the ‘nice’ ward to the one that was cots in a large room.

So how did Elizabeth react?

She began by treating these women with dignity and helped clean them and the ward. She treated both staff , who were overworked, and her fellow inmates as if they were people.

Eventually her son was able to get her out. Still her husband found ways to demean her by selling their Manteno home and keeping her children away from her. But that didn’t stop Elizabeth. She wrote about her experience, convinced people to support her efforts to publish her work. And then she lobbied law makers to change laws so other women would not be treated as she had been. She never stopped using her voice, becoming wealthy in the process. And that wealth allowed her to get her children back.

Moore stated she was inspired by the “Me, Too” movement in 2015 and wanted to find a woman who prevailed while telling her truth. That when faced with obstacles, this woman had succeeded. During her search, she found Elizabeth briefly mentioned. With a little digging, Moore found Elizabeth’s books that had been digitized. The more she read, Moore knew this was the woman she wanted to write about.

Packard’s story resonates today as we see women’s rights being whittled away once more. Abortions rights depend on what state you live in. Some politicians want a nation-wide abortion ban after stating it should be the States that determine if they want abortions to be legal or not. Once Arizona took these politicians at their word, allowing an 1860 law banning abortion to be the law, suddenly top national and state Republican candidates are backing off a total ban.

Since Roe was overturned, women are having difficulty getting care should they have a problem pregnancy. Young women cannot have a miscarriage these days without being considered a criminal. Doctors in the wrong state won’t give them treatment until these women bleed out a little too much for fear of being prosecuted. Women with problem pregnancies and/or a dead fetus are expected to carry these pregnancies, even if it cost them their fertility or life.

Why does having a failed pregnancy, many times a wanted pregnancy, make women criminals?

 Elizabeth Packard did not live long enough to vote. But I feel she would have used her voice at the ballot box. She would have told us to fight to keep control of our bodies, of our healthcare. That no man, no law, should be in charge of your body and your access to healthcare.

Take Elizabeth’s lessons to heart. Go in that booth and vote. Vote for people who will protect your right to healthcare, your right to birth control. Vote for your best interest so that one day, when you might be facing one of the worst nightmares of having a wanted pregnancy go haywire, that you can get the needed healthcare without having to go to court to get it.

If not for yourself, then do it for the generations of women in your family who may need healthcare in the future.