A Historical Overview of Abortion in Western Civilization
A woman in the waiting room of Planned Parenthood in Santa Monica on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. Masks are mandatory and cell phone use is prohibited to ensure privacy. (Johaira Dilauro / The Corsair)
For centuries, abortions have been a taboo subject among people worldwide. Many people have an opinion on abortions, whether they support it or not. Nonetheless, there is a deep history behind this "taboo" subject.
To search up the term "abortion" online would unlock a world of medical centers and websites that will tell you about the before, during, and after-effects of the procedure. A notable name when speaking about abortions is Planned Parenthood (PP). Although most know PP to be an abortion provider, it is also a nonprofit organization that provides sexual health care and education to any who need it.
Planned Parenthood ensures that they lay out all the options in regards to those considering terminating a pregnancy. On their website, www.plannedparenthood.org, there are many links providing education on both surgical and medical abortions, with the help of licensed doctors and nurses.
Beginning in the colonial age of America, abortions were legal and available to women who wanted the procedure performed. According to the Center for American Progress' website, "Abortion was not just legal—it was a safe, condoned, and practiced procedure in colonial America and common enough to appear in the legal and medical records of the period."
The website states that if a woman during 17th or 18th century New England wanted an abortion, "no legal, social, or religious force would have stopped her." Abortion laws did not officially come into effect in the U.S. until 1821.
The website also fact-checks anti-abortion groups such as the Family Research Council and Americans United for Life. These groups claim that having an abortion would not be constitutionally acceptable, when in fact abortion had been legal during the time the constitution was written.
Though many would not imagine the Puritans and settlers of colonial America as being "progressive," they actually brought the ideas of freedom to America, including the English perspective on abortion. They felt that sex was not just for reproduction to grow the population in their new country, but also for pleasure between a husband and wife. Because of their progressive view on sex, they supported those who wanted abortions.
Progressing into the 19th century, abortions that were not for the purpose of saving the mother's life were deemed criminal procedures in all states, according to the Center for American Progress. These changes were likely tied to the developments taking place in social class and family dynamics of the time.
The reasoning for these laws was also due a perceived threat to the male patriarchy by a newfound independence in women who wanted to start families later in life. Along with this emerging sentiment against abortions, a coalition of male doctors backed by the American Medical Association (AMA), the Catholic Church, and many sensationalist newspapers began the campaign against abortions.
According to Carroll Smith-Rosenberg in her book, Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America, the Victorian era anti-abortion campaign was a way to paint women who had abortions as "unnatural and selfish, undermining the expected, patriotic, and godly role of the American woman—that of wife and mother." It was not until 1973 when the Roe V. Wade ruling once again legalized abortions in the US.
During the period when abortions were illegal, many women died from trying to perform unsafe abortions. As many as 5,000 women died during the 100 years that abortions had been illegal. After Roe V. Wade passed, hospitalizations and deaths due to improperly performed abortions halted. Abortions, which were historically considered to be almost as safe as carrying a child to full term, are still considered to be extremely safe.
There is still stigma and judgement surrounding abortions and its related topics. Even though contraceptives are widely considered a basic health need, easy access to cheap contraceptives is restricted. It should be noted that in the United States, most laws concerning female reproductive health are made by men.
Like most medical procedures, it continues to get safer as time goes on. Abortion is not a new topic, as it is a process that people have been taking part in for centuries. So long as unplanned pregnancies continue to take place, abortions will continue to be a part of history.
