Purple Language About Abortion in the Dialogue

The Huffington Post website recently published an article, written by Alanna Vagianos and titled Dirty Dancing Writer On Why She Integrated Illegal Abortion Into A Love Story. The article includes the following passage quoting screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein as follows [words bracketed as in the article]:

When it came time to shoot it [the movie], I made it very clear that we would leave in what is, for me, very purple language: references to dirty knives, a folding table, hearing Penny screaming in the hallway. I had a doctor on set to make sure [the description of the illegal abortion] was right.

The reason I put that language in there was because I felt that ― even with it being a coat hanger abortion ― a whole generation of young people, and women especially... wouldn’t understand what [the illegal abortion] was.

Bergstein is referring to the following dialogue, which takes place just after Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman have returned from the Sheldrake hotel to the Kellerman hotel.

Billy Kostecki
Come on. It's Penny. She wouldn't go until you returned.

Johnny Castle
Did you call an ambulance?

Billy Kostecki
She said the hospital would call the police. She made me promise.

He didn't use no ether, nothing.

Baby Houseman
I thought you said he was a real M.D.

Billy Kostecki
He had a dirty knife and a table.

I could hear her screaming in the hallway. I swear to God, I tried to get in.

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Since Bergstein went to all the trouble to bring a doctor onto the set, she might have improved her dialogue by replacing all the purple prose with correct terminology.

I sure would like a medical expert to write a learned article about the abortion for this blog, but in the meantime I am writing this article here, based on my layman's understanding.

The abortion method probably was dilation and curettage, which is "the most often used method of first trimester abortion", according to the Wikipedia, which summarizes the procedure as follows:

The woman is typically put under monitored anesthesia care before the procedure begins.

The first step in a dilation-and-curettage is to dilate the cervix. This can be done with Hegar dilators.

A curette, a metal rod with a handle on one end and a sharp loop on the other, is then inserted into the uterus through the dilated cervix. The curette is used to gently scrape the lining of the uterus and remove the tissue in the uterus.

Since the abortionist was charging $250, he certainly was able to purchase the proper tools, which are simple and rather cheap. There are two main tool kinds -- 1) Hegar dilators and 2) curettess.

A set of Hegar dilators is a series of metal rods that increase in diameter. The dilators are inserted in order of increasing diameter through the cervix in order to gradually dilate the cervix.

A Set of Hegar Dilators

Curettes come in various designs. Here is an example:

A curette

The Wikipedia article includes the following illustration of a curette being used to scrape a uterus lining.

A curette scraping a uterus lining

The "dirty knife" in Bergstein's purple language seems to be a curette. Bergstein's idea seems to be that an inadequately sterilized curette scratched and infected the inner wall of Penny's uterus and caused an infection.

If that is what made Penny sick, then she was cured quickly by a dose of antibiotics administered by Dr. Houseman. None of this is explained in the movie, though, so we can only guess.

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Below is a set of dilation-and-curettage tools. I recognize the left-most tool as a curette. Maybe the right-most tools are dilators that are different from Hegar dilators.

A Dilation-And-Curettage Set of Tools

These tools are obviously simple and cheap. A person doing a lot of abortions in 1963 and charging $250 ($2,000 in 2017 dollars) for each abortion could easily buy proper tools.

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According to Billy, Penny's abortionist did not use any anesthetic, and so she was screaming so painfully that Billy heard her from the corridor and tried to break into the room. Bergstein wants the audience to think that the abortionist was sticking a dirty knife through Penny's vagina into her uterus. That idea is preposterous.

I am guessing that the uterus walls don't have any nerve endings, and so a woman doesn't feel the curette scraping the uterus walls. The insertion and manipulation of the tools does cause discomfort in the vagina and cervix, however, and so the woman is anesthetized to prevent her from squirming around. If an experienced abortionist uses proper tools, then the woman should not ever scream in pain, even if she is not anesthetized.
The anesthetic used for a dilation and curettage in 1963 would probably be chloroform, administered by an inhaler similar to this:

Chloroform Inhaler (vintage model)

This would be the most complicated and expensive tool used in the abortion. A person doing a lot of abortions and charging a lot of money could easily afford such a tool and always would use it.

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Yes, sometimes coat hangers were shaped into home-made dilators and curettes.

Nevertheless, proper tools were simple and cheap for people who did a lot of abortions as a business.

In 1959, the organization Planned Parenthood estimated that 90% of illegal abortions were done by physicians.

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In 1963, a person who did a lot of illegal abortions got his all new customers from referrals. People who were satisfied by his service would recommend him to other people who wanted abortions.

An abortionist who used "dirty knives" and used no anesthetics and caused the women to scream in pain would not be recommended to other people who wanted abortions. If a woman is screaming in pain in a hotel room and a man in the corridor is trying to break through the door, the hotel's management will call the police.

Doing abortions was illegal, but it was a business. Professional abortionists did their abortions as carefully, safely and satisfactorily as they could.

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The website Medicine Net describes the possible complications of a dilation and curettage as follows:

The D and C procedure has a low risk of serious complications. It is normal to experience vaginal bleeding and/or pelvic cramping (similar to menstrual cramping) for a few days following a D and C. Typically, over-the-counter pain medications are sufficient for pain control.

The most common complication that can occur is perforation of the uterus with either the dilators or the curette. When this happens, as long as no internal organs (intestines, bladder, or rectum) or large blood vessels are damaged, the hole will almost always heal itself without further surgery. The risk for this problem is increased in patients with a narrowed opening to the cervix (cervical stenosis) or in patients with distorted internal uterine anatomy. ....

Injury to the cervix is another possible complication. Tears or cuts in the cervix can usually be treated by application of pressure and application of local medications to stop bleeding. In some cases, stitches in the cervix may be required, but this is not common.

Other complications, as with any surgery, include bleeding and infection. Most bleeding is mild and resolves on its own. Infection is also rare and can normally be managed with oral antibiotics. Most D and Cs do not require the routine use of post-operative antibiotics. ...

I assume that Dr. Houseman treated Penny by giving her a pain medication or an antibiotic.

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See my follow-up article titled Penny missed only one menstrual period.