How legal abortion became illegal
Beating the baby bringing stork - image - Wikimedia Commons Public Domain This post presents an overview of Carroll Smith-Rosenberg's investigation into the abortion movement and its role in the inception of underground, illegal abortions. Carroll Smith-Rosenberg’s chapter, "The Abortion Movement and the AMA, 1850 - 1880," in her book Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America , provides an investigative chronology of abortion’s illegalisation and its effects on society. Foetus and Women - Politically Charged During the 20th century and the latter half of the 19th century, abortion became a political and ideological issue, instead of a medical one. The foetus and the woman became symbols of social change. Looking at the abortion movement of the 19th century gives insight into the attitude of society’s position towards abortion then and now especially as it coincided with the emerging feminist movement. Abortion 1850-1880 Legal to Ille...