BIGFORK, Mont. — The college student lay down on an operating table, her legs trembling in the stirrups. The doctor warned her to remain absolutely silent.
It was 1966. Cheryl Bryant and Clifton Palmer were 22, and abortion in Califoria was illegal except to save a woman’s life. But Cheryl was determined to get one. That abortion would change the lives of the young couple and the respected physician who referred them, and lead to the decriminalization of abortion in California years before Roe vs. Wade.