Importance of Beth

Beth is a teenaged girl who has performed a medication abortion on herself. She got the medicine off the Internet. She had been to the Center seeking an abortion, but because she was a minor and did not have a consenting parent with her, she needed to get a judicial waiver. She was scheduled for a court date, but the date was moved when the judge went on vacation with his wife. Her new court date would be too late to have an abortion, so she got the medication to do it herself. Because self-abortion is illegal in Mississippi, she faces jail time for the death of her unborn child.

In the end, the author reveals that Beth is George’s daughter. The judge is the man that Joy had an affair with. He goes on vacation with his wife to save his marriage after his affair with Joy.