The Romper Room was a very successful preschooler show that ran from 1954 into the eighties. The shows has a female hostess. It was an educational show, with traditional lessons. It was criticized as being too commercial, but for a period there was the longest running kids television show on U.S. television. Many different markets had their own hostess. One of these hostesses would become a media sensation because she attempted to warn the public of a dangerous medication, Thalidomide.
Sherri Finkbine was known as Miss Sherri on the Phoenix, Arizona franchised version of Romper Room. In 1962 she became pregnant with her fifth child while she has been taking Thalidomide. It had become publicly known at the time that there was significant chances of severe birth deformation of any child born with the drug was in the mother's system. Finkbine's physician recommended a therapeutic abortion, the only type permitted in Arizona at the time, on the basis that the child would be harmful to her metal health. Finkbine contacted a reporter at the Arizona Reporter newspaper to tell the story so that other women could be warned of the dangers believing her identity would be a secret. The story instead became a series of article focused on her plans for an abortion. Shortly after the article was published her identity was exposed and she became an object of public condemnation and a focus of international scrutiny.
The hospital where she was scheduled to have the abortion was concerned about the publicity and wanted to verify that they would not be putting themselves into a legal risk by proceeding. A judge determined that while the hospital could perform the procedure they could be vulnerable to lawsuits, so the hospital turned Finkbine away. As news of the events spread Finkbine lost her job, her husband was suspended from his job as a high school teacher. Angry letters and death threats arrived in the mail. The FBI was concerned enough to assign agents to protect the family.
The Finkbine's attempted to travel to Japan to get the procedure done, but their visa was denied. Eventually they were able to go to Sweden where Finkbine had to see a psychiatrist and receive permission from the Medical Review Board. Permission was granted to preserve her mental health on August 17, 1962. The next day the procedure was performed. The fetus that was removed had no legs and only one arm. The obstetrician who performed the procedure stated that the child would not have survived.
Throughout their travel to Sweden and back they were hounded by reporters. Eventually they faded from the public eye, but their challenges became a catalyst that started to change public perception toward pro-choice. Eventually her incident would become one step on the path to Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion. The story was made into the TV movie A Private Matter starring Sissy Spacek as Miss Sherri.
-Professor Walter
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