In her mid-30s, Monica Kelsey learned her life began in tragedy. Her mother, at the age of 17, had been attacked, raped and left for dead. In the aftermath of her assault, she decided to have an abortion, still illegal in 1972. But at the underground clinic she had a change of heart, according to Kelsey's autobiography, and continued with her pregnancy. Later, she would abandon her infant when Kelsey was two hours old.