Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  

Back Alley Surgery

Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1978 Schroder Music Company, renewed 2006.

Supreme Court sits in Washington
Every one a mother's son.
Women's fate is lost and won
Behind that heavy door.
The justices preside in noble ease,
None of them ever suffers pregnancies,
So they hand out decisions such as these:
Back alley abortions for the poor.

Yes, back alley surgery kitchen knife solutions,
Wire hanger abortions for the poor.

Well-to-do people can manage well,
Anything they need they can buy and sell,
But the teenage drifter can walk in hell
Or roll on the back room floor.
And the battered children who bruise and bleed,
And the mother with too many kids to feed,
Pro-life offers them in their need
Back alley abortions for the poor.

Yes, back alley surgery kitchen knife solutions,
Wire hanger abortions for the poor.