In Act I Scene 2 of A Raisin in the Sun, Ruth discovers that she is pregnant for the second time. At this news she is worried for her family and strongly considers an abortion. She would not ordinarily have gotten an abortion, but she felt pressured to because her family was falling apart and another child was not going to help the situation. After becoming furious with Walter Mama finally tells him that, " '... do you know you wife is expecting another baby?... I think Ruth is thinking of getting rid of that child,' " (Hansberry, 476). Walter does not believe his mother and is astonished that Ruth would consider killing their child.
This is part of their culture; when a woman worries for her family, she'll do anything to keep them together. Ruth's intentions were to keep her family together and not divide them any more. She wanted to repair her marriage and make a better life for everyone. Her thoughts to stop the pregnancy were very uncharacteristic and this was because she felt pressure to fix all of her family's problems. Ruth was normally a fun life-giving, and supporting woman. When the reader discovers her plans to abort the baby, the reader and Ruth's family are shocked at this change in character.
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