abortion during the 1920s
AJA Review #1
The article I chose was “Illegal Operations: Women, Doctors, and Abortion, 1886-1939,” by Angus McLaren. The overall concept of the article was on how laws affected the women’s way of receiving the assistance they needed to carry out fertility control or commonly referenced in the article as “induction of miscarriage.” The author addresses the prospective of the women, doctors, male affiliate in quietus, and the court, in the era of the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries. In a nutshell, the article elaborated on why mass abortions were happening in this time period. The stricter the law cracked down the more women had to seek amateur’s help to carry out an abortion. These amateurs consisted of masseuses, midwives, and herbalists. The only time a real doctor could intervene is when the fetus was in direct conflict of the health of the woman. Still even with a woman’s health at risk the doctor was still hesitant because ultimately he was liable to go to prison if all bases were not covered on his part. The author also expounds on why women pursued getting an abortion (single or married), where the spouse or lover played in the situation, and how the court acted towards abortion cases. The courts only have records of the most extreme cases, usually death, because women were usually hush-hush about the situation. The cases that did arise though single men were often labeled as an accomplice and were tried for prison time. Married men, however, were usually dismissed because even if they were labeled as an accomplice to the induced miscarriage, the loss of their wife was enough punishment. Doctors usually had a huge support from the medical board because they were usually informed about the reasons for the abortion. This caused the courts to have a hard time convicting professional doctors in the courtroom. It was concluded that there was no direct correlation to why a woman would pursue an abortion, whether married or single. Two of the
The article I chose was “Illegal Operations: Women, Doctors, and Abortion, 1886-1939,” by Angus McLaren. The overall concept of the article was on how laws affected the women’s way of receiving the assistance they needed to carry out fertility control or commonly referenced in the article as “induction of miscarriage.” The author addresses the prospective of the women, doctors, male affiliate in quietus, and the court, in the era of the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries. In a nutshell, the article elaborated on why mass abortions were happening in this time period. The stricter the law cracked down the more women had to seek amateur’s help to carry out an abortion. These amateurs consisted of masseuses, midwives, and herbalists. The only time a real doctor could intervene is when the fetus was in direct conflict of the health of the woman. Still even with a woman’s health at risk the doctor was still hesitant because ultimately he was liable to go to prison if all bases were not covered on his part. The author also expounds on why women pursued getting an abortion (single or married), where the spouse or lover played in the situation, and how the court acted towards abortion cases. The courts only have records of the most extreme cases, usually death, because women were usually hush-hush about the situation. The cases that did arise though single men were often labeled as an accomplice and were tried for prison time. Married men, however, were usually dismissed because even if they were labeled as an accomplice to the induced miscarriage, the loss of their wife was enough punishment. Doctors usually had a huge support from the medical board because they were usually informed about the reasons for the abortion. This caused the courts to have a hard time convicting professional doctors in the courtroom. It was concluded that there was no direct correlation to why a woman would pursue an abortion, whether married or single. Two of the