:|buckeye-elo@nospam.net wrote:
:|> PART 6
:|> EARLY AMERICA
:|> SEX, 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 pushing 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 establishing 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,
:|pornography 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.