"hcgoodrich@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <hcgoodrich@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>:|buckeye-elo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>:|> PART 6
>:|> EARLY AMERICA
>:|> ***, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION,
>:|> BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS
>:|>
>:|>
>:|> ABORTION:
>:|>
>:|> A matter of historical fact, abortion were perfectly legal in this
country
>:|> at the time of the framing of the Constitution, its ratification,
framing
>:|> of the BORs and their ratification. Abortion remained legal for
approx 100
>:|> year after that, and was perfectly acceptable to the churches of the
day,
>:|> so long as such took place before the "quickening" which usually was
around
>:|> the 4th or sometimes 5th month.
>:|>
>:|> Interesting side note as to why pressure was finally mounted to
declare
>:|> such illegal is that it was pure politics. The relatively new AMA
wanted to
>:|> drive mid wives out of business, wanted to force doctors to join
their
>:|> organizations, so they began courting politicians with money etc.
Said
>:|> politicians then passed laws that made wet nurses illegal, abortions
>:|> illegal, unless performed by a doctor or at his advice, etc.
>:|> Here is one source:
>:|> ****************************************************************
>:|I tried sending this before but the effort failed. I hope this gets
>:|through. Part of a paper I wrote 20 years ago on Women in Medicine.
>:|Hubbard C. Goodrich
>:|
>:| Abortion was a common method used to limit family size or to escape
>:|the shame of a 'sinful' act. Though frowned upon, abortion was
>:|considered neither illegal nor immoral until the 1800s. Of the 32
>:|accused abortionists brought to trial between 1849-58 in Boston, no one
>:|was convicted. If quickening was detected, any act to abort might be a
>:|misdemeanor if anything. It has been estimated that 20% of all
>:|pregnancies ended in induced or accidental abortion during the first
>:|half of the 1800s and 25% by 1850. Any warnings about abortion were
>:|directed to the very real dangers to the mothers, not the unborn fetus.
>:|Poisons were used with the idea that you take just enough to kill the
>:|fetus but not the mother. As the chemicals were impure and dosages
>:|inexact, many mothers died. The first law passed in 1821 in Connecticut
>:|was specifically designed to protect the mother and was against the use
>:|of chemicals to halt a pregnancy, not abortion itself.
>:|
>:| After 1830 there was an apparent explosion in the use of abortion. It
>:|must have been a desperate decision especially for married women whose
>:|primary goal, they were told, was to be the moral guardian of children,
>:|family and society. Poor women were especially despairing referring to
>:|pregnancy as the "curse of God". One child or two might be acceptable
>:|but the annual progression of pregnancy, birth and child care in the
>:|midst of poverty already on the edge of survival was more than many
>:|wished to accept. Mothers had to nourish and house their children. Each
>:|birth diminished food and shelter available to all. A new child often
>:|meant pu****ng the oldest out into the streets to live as it might. If
>:|employable, a seasonally incapacitated wife provided less income to the
>:|family already facing economic disaster. (Husbands like as not were
>:|down at the local saloon.) Prostitution and thievery obviously were
>:|often seen as more appealing than starvation. Even though the wealthy
>:|could usually find a sympathetic doctor to help them with their
>:|problems, women at all social levels resorted to unknown home
>:|concoctions, foreign instruments, and exercises to abort an unwanted
>:|child. Newspapers were filled with advertisements for potions one could
>:|take to solve a "woman's complaint", "menstrual blockage", and as a
>:|"sure cure for ladies in trouble". For a fee, a consultation would see
>:|to your private needs.
>:|
>:| Ann T. Lohman was an especially well known doctress of abortion. (See
>:|also Madam Castello [f 1841] and Madam Demain [f 1842].) Ann Trow
>:|Lohman [1812-78] advertised in the papers as "Madam Restell" and
>:|offered to cure women's diseases. She was born in England and moved to
>:|NYC in 1831. By 1836 she was advertising patent medicine and
>:|anti-conception information. She had a thriving business and became
>:|quite wealthy. She advertised as a doctress which made it very
>:|difficult for regular women doctors who wanted to set up medical
>:|practice and advertise and attract patients. In 1841 Ann was arrested,
>:|tried and convicted for an abortion that apparently led to the death of
>:|the mother. She continue in practice and was tried again in 1847, and
>:|again in 1855. Ann eventually committed suicide.
>:|
>:| Efforts were made and techniques suggested before the Civil War on the
>:|ways to limit the number of offspring. With the invention of vulcanized
>:|rubber (1840s), condoms and diaphragms were becoming more common for
>:|the well-to-do but there was no quality control and their reputations
>:|suffered. The strength of objections to abortion increased. Doctors
>:|were especially vocal in establi****ng their authority over any medical
>:|problem. They did not like to see untrained people performing
>:|procedures they thought fell within their province. They strove to
>:|legislate away the practice of abortion (and also prostitution,
>:|****ography etc) as a moral crusade. Only doctors, they argued, had the
>:|knowledge and training to decide who should or should not have an
>:|abortion.
>:|
>:| Dr. Horatio Storer was a leading advocate for the criminalization of
>:|abortion. Starting in 1857 he led the national drive by the AMA to pass
>:|legislation against abortion. He used "ethnic death" as a tactic to
>:|frighten those who believed poor immigrants were out-populating
>:|Anglo-Americans. Forty anti-abortion statutes were passed. It was not
>:|really a moral issue. Each law had a "therapeutic" exception which
>:|allowed regular doctors to perform abortions based on their best
>:|medical judgement. Only the poor suffered as the wealthy continued to
>:|find reasons for obtaining abortions as a therapeutic release from
>:|distress.
Thanks and you are more than welcome to post the entire paper if you
would
like
|
