SM: How can women regain a sense of empowerment and control after being the victim of a rape?
Gloria Allred: The key word: It’s about power. [Women] have power in their lives and they can turn whatever anger they have about what has happened to them—which they rightfully have—into a powerful force for change for themselves and others. [With] many of my clients who’ve been victims of rape, we have gone after the rapist [and] cooperated with the police in their pursuit of the rapist. They found the courage to testify, they filed civil suits often. It’s empowering to go from having been a victim of the rapist to actually taking the offensive against him. It’s just a very powerful experience. I don’t advise any woman to go through this alone. It’s very important that they have the support of others.

When Allred returned home from Mexico and discovered that she was pregnant from the rape, she had an illegal abortion. In the days before Roe v. Wade gave women the right to a safe and legal abortion, the abortion nearly killed the young, single mother. “I developed a fever of 106 degrees from the infection that resulted. I almost bled to death,” Allred writes in her book. “Finally… I was taken to the hospital to a special ward where women who were dying from abortions were treated. I was packed in ice, placed in intensive care, and given antibiotics and an I.V. Fortunately, I lived. Others in my situation did not.”

SM: Many women in our generation sit back and say “Roe v. Wade could never be overturned.” Do you think Roe v. Wade could ever be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court?
Gloria Allred: Oh, absolutely.