Abortion in colonial times: does anybody have any good info...

[Rex_Goodheart]

on what the founders might have thought about the matter?

[Che_Nuevara]

1. Most of the founders were Puritans.

I doubt they would have been in favor.

[Walt Starr]

6. BULLSHIT!

Puritans were no longer a religious force in the colonies by the time of the revolution.

[Dora]

8. The Puritans arrived here many years before.

As someone has pointed out, the "founding fathers" were not Puritans.

[HereSince1628]

28. Exactly, my 11th great grandfather was a Puritan, my 8th great grand

father who fought at Monmouth, NJ. had long forgotten Puritanism.

I'm pretty sure that my 11th great grandfather's daughter, Damaris, cared a lot more for her seagoing love from Connecticutt, than the Puritan rules at Southampton.

[prodigal_green]

16. Depends upon the colony

New York had its first bar before it had its first church.

The founding fathers, i.e., the revolutionaries, probably held varying beliefs regarding abortion, and considering the notorious sexual reputations of both Franklin and Jefferson, I'm sure there were some Franklins or Jeffersons that didn't come to term.

[izzie]

23. They often made a women pay if she had a child in less than 9 months.

I do not think they took size into it. It was from sin. They also dunked women or some such thing for sex out side of marriage. You can find that is old town police reports which are really fun to read. These great towns that were going yo be run like they said just did not work. Seems sin has been around for ever.

[MrBenchley]

2. In fact, abortion was both common and legal at the time

It's covered in the Roe v Wade decision itself....

[Bjornsdotter]

3. It was a woman's issue

Handled by other women, men were rarely involved.

There is a great book about the life of women in the US....I'll have to look for the title and author.

Cheers

[izzie]

26. All through history women have been up to such things.

Death was also high in birth years for women. None of this should be judged in our time and frame of mind. They did not look at things the same.

[supernova]

4. It was one of the things that got you burned for witchcraft

was being the old crone at the edge of the woods who took care of things.

[Odin2005]

5. The life begins at conception meme is fairly recent.

most people throughout history considered that life began when a mother could feel the fetus's "kicking".

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

10. Yes, it is called "quickening"

Terminating a pregnancy was only considered immoral after "quickening."

[supernova]

13. And quickening is actually biblical

[HereSince1628]

14. That is biologically irrational...life begain eons ago

And it has been passed along from generation to generation ever since.

The abortion issue hinges not on when life began but WHEN is it that a fetal existance has rights of personhood under the law?

Wherever that point is placed it is going to be a legal decision, NOT a biological decision.

I personally think that defining legal persons as those that are biologically independent of a placental attachment to the womb is a pretty good approach. That is also consistent with tradition and existing law including Roe v. Wade.

[HereSince1628]

7. You might check this title I found on FindLaw.com

AN IMPORTANT STUDY OF THE HISTORY AND LAW OF THE ABORTION RIGHTS CONTROVERSY:
A Review of Hull and Hoffer's New Book on Roe v. Wade
By PAUL FINKELMAN
----
Friday, Sept. 28, 2001

N.E.H. Hull and Peter Hoffer, Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2001).

It is hard to imagine a better introduction to the problem of abortion and American constitutional law than N.E.H. Hull and Peter Hoffer's recent work on Roe v. Wade. Hull, a Distinguished Professor of law and history at Rutgers-Camden Law School, and her husband Hoffer, a Distinguished Professor of history at the University of Georgia, have written an impressive, clear, and easily understood history of the 1973 decision.

The book is neither preachy nor opinionated. Doubtless, some readers will come away from the book annoyed because it doesn't support their preconceived positions or moral outlook. But anyone seriously interested in the subject will find this a gust of fresh air.

An Eye-Opening Discussion of Abortion Throughout History

Long before the invention of the condom or the pill, women were taking herbal remedies and other folk medicines to successfully terminate unwanted pregnancies. In ancient Rome, and traditional native American societies, abortions were commonplace and legal.

In colonial America, abortions were also common, but kept secret because most of the colonies prosecuted fornication. Thus, an unmarried girl or woman needed to keep her abortion secret to hide her earlier illegal act: sexual intercourse.

<obviously, much more>...................

[Rex_Goodheart]

18. Thank you very much.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

9. Here you go.....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195026160/002-6857220-6187231?v=glance&n=283155

Abortion in America : The Origins and Evolution of National Policy (Galaxy Books) (Paperback)
by James C. Mohr


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10297561&dopt=Abstract

PIP: Abortion was frequently practiced in North America during the period from 1600 to 1900. Many tribal societies knew how to induce abortions. They used a variety of methods including the use of black root and cedar root as abortifacient agents. During the colonial period, the legality of abortion varied from colony to colony and reflected the attitude of the European country which controlled the specific colony. In the British colonies abortions were legal if they were performed prior to quickening. In the French colonies abortions were frequently performed despite the fact that they were considered to be illegal. In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies abortion was illegal. From 1776 until the mid-1800s abortion was viewed as socially unacceptable; however, abortions were not illegal in most states. During the 1860s a number of states passed anti-abortion laws. Most of these laws were ambiguous and difficult to enforce. After 1860 stronger anti-abortion laws were passed and these laws were more vigorously enforced. As a result, many women began to utilize illegal underground abortion services. Although abortion was legalized in 1970, many women are still forced to obtain illegal abortion or to perform self-abortions due to the economic constraints imposed by the Hyde Amendment and the unavailability of services in many areas. Throughout the colonial period and during the early years of the republic, the abortion situation for slave women was different than for other women. Slaves were subject to the rules of their owners, and the owners refused to allow their slaves to terminate pregnancies. The owners wanted their slaves to produce as many children as possible since these children belonged to the slave owners. This situation persisted until the end of the slavery era.

[Rex_Goodheart]

20. Thank you very much.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. I know it wasn't made illegal in any states until the mid/late 1800's

During the mid 1800's the US abortion rates were very similar to those during the 70's. Abortionist used to advertise in the daily papers and it was an open and lucrative business. Then in the late 1800's they began to claim fear for the womens safety that were undergoing abortions and things began to change.

Odd isn't it, that this has become such a political issue with todays Americans.

[Sammy Pepys]

12. Lots of back and forth on it

There wasn't much in the way of contraceptive methods, and birthrates were correspondingly high....which would suggest that abortion was not all that common back then.

[supernova]

15. Sure it was

You just didn't hear about it.

[Sammy Pepys]

17. I doubt it....n/t

.....

[Bjornsdotter]

19. Great book

It may give you some insight and surprise you. Colonial women had a lot more rights than you would imagine.

Cheers

America's Women : Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines (Hardcover)
by Gail Collins

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0060185104.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[Rex_Goodheart]

21. Thank you very much.

[Solly Mack]

22. Sunshine for Women (Abortion with Attitude) -link for history of

http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/abortion.html

[Rex_Goodheart]

24. Wow, great site.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

25. I can't provide a link but a women's issues class I took at U of L

three years ago discussed this issue at length. The text and the professor discussed that abortions were common place up until the middle of the 1850s. They were not outlawed because of religious considerations but for economic (surprise, surprise!) reasons.

Even the Catholic church had no problem with abortions until they started seeing a decline in birth rates which conversely led to a decline in church rolls. (The Catholic Church is quite comfortable to change the rules according to economics - at one time even priests and the pope was allowed to marry, have families, etc. You think economics played a part in the decision for priests and nuns not to marry? Maybe?)

To show how times have changed, I know for a fact that in my small home town a small Catholic run hospital routinely (1950-1960s) sterilized poor and mentally slow women - some without their knowledge - for years. The good nuns knew these women could not support or care for more children and they took steps to help them. This was long before birth control pills but it happened. I don't agree with the secrecy of doing this to women without their knowledge but can you imagine a Catholic hospital even considering what is best for a woman or her family nowadays?

Seems doctors of the 1850s were upset that a procedure they felt they should be performing was going to midwives, etc. Not only were midwives delivering babies they thought they should be delivering, the midwives were preventing pregnancies, again, an economic issue for the good doctors. A move by well heeled doctors to restrict both abortions and mid-wife deliveries were instituted and eventually abortions were outlawed.

That said, I wish I had my old book or even my class notes because they would give me the text and referencing. If I get a chance I'll go dig around in the basement to see if I can locate the stuff. Hopefully someone here at DU will have some cites.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

29. That's what I was taught also

Your detailed recollection was much better than mine.

20 years ago I never expected to be fighting for our legal right to choose in 2006.

[tigereye]

31. yes, me too

It is frustrating to have to do this all over again. But necessary. I got a new Planned Parenthood shirt and have been wearing it quite a bit.


I used to escort at clinics before and during the Op. Rescue days and it was not a pretty sight.

sigh.

[Retrograde]

27. Depends on where and when

Attitudes and practices varied a lot. The only reference to legal abortions I can recall offhand is in mid-19th century New York: the recent book New York Night quotes some contemporary advertisements for abortionists c. 1840. In other places, it may have been illegal, bur IIRC some large percentage of Puritan brides were pregnant at their weddings (sex with one's betrothed was more or less acceptable, although premarital sex in general was frowned upon)

[TallahasseeGrannie]

30. I have posted this before but it is somewhat germane

to this conversation. My paternal grandmother confided in my mother that many times during her marriage she had what were known as "menstrual corrections." It sounded like she was describing a D & C. This would have been the end of the 19th C. I know she never used birth control, and evidently this was quite common. If her period was late, she went to the doctor and he corrected it. I don't think the concept of a baby was addressed at all.