Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook688 pages10 hours
When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
As we approach the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it's crucial to look back to the time when abortion was illegal. Leslie J. Reagan traces the practice and policing of abortion, which although illegal was nonetheless widely available, but always with threats for both doctor and patient. In a time when many young women don't even know that there was a period when abortion was a crime, this work offers chilling and vital lessons of importance to everyone.
The linking of the words "abortion" and "crime" emphasizes the difficult and painful history that is the focus of Reagan's important book. Her study is the first to examine the entire period during which abortion was illegal in the United States, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and ending with Roe v. Wade in 1973. Although illegal, millions of abortions were provided during these years to women of every class, race, and marital status. The experiences and perspectives of these women, as well as their physicians and midwives, are movingly portrayed here.
Reagan traces the practice and policing of abortion. While abortions have been typically portrayed as grim "back alley" operations, she finds that abortion providers often practiced openly and safely. Moreover, numerous physicians performed abortions, despite prohibitions by the state and the American Medical Association. Women often found cooperative practitioners, but prosecution, public humiliation, loss of privacy, and inferior medical care were a constant threat.
Reagan's analysis of previously untapped sources, including inquest records and trial transcripts, shows the fragility of patient rights and raises provocative questions about the relationship between medicine and law. With the right to abortion again under attack in the United States, this book offers vital lessons for every American concerned with health care, civil liberties, and personal and sexual freedom.
The linking of the words "abortion" and "crime" emphasizes the difficult and painful history that is the focus of Reagan's important book. Her study is the first to examine the entire period during which abortion was illegal in the United States, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and ending with Roe v. Wade in 1973. Although illegal, millions of abortions were provided during these years to women of every class, race, and marital status. The experiences and perspectives of these women, as well as their physicians and midwives, are movingly portrayed here.
Reagan traces the practice and policing of abortion. While abortions have been typically portrayed as grim "back alley" operations, she finds that abortion providers often practiced openly and safely. Moreover, numerous physicians performed abortions, despite prohibitions by the state and the American Medical Association. Women often found cooperative practitioners, but prosecution, public humiliation, loss of privacy, and inferior medical care were a constant threat.
Reagan's analysis of previously untapped sources, including inquest records and trial transcripts, shows the fragility of patient rights and raises provocative questions about the relationship between medicine and law. With the right to abortion again under attack in the United States, this book offers vital lessons for every American concerned with health care, civil liberties, and personal and sexual freedom.
Unavailable
Read more from Leslie J. Reagan
When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973, with a New Preface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dangerous Pregnancies: Mothers, Disabilities, and Abortion in Modern America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to When Abortion Was a Crime
Related ebooks
Abortion after Roe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turnaway Study: The Cost of Denying Women Access to Abortion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prelude to Prison: Student Perspectives on School Suspension Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Birth Control Battles: How Race and Class Divided American Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRepublican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage through the Rise of the New Right Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babylost: Racism, Survival, and the Quiet Politics of Infant Mortality, from A to Z Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbortion Pills Go Global: Reproductive Freedom across Borders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChoice and Coercion: Birth Control, Sterilization, and Abortion in Public Health and Welfare Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Abortionist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What's Up with White Women?: Unpacking Sexism and White Privilege in Pursuit of Racial Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Every Third Woman In America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsObstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Do No Harm: Fatphobia & the Medical Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeating Hearts: Abortion and Animal Rights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFeminism: Reinventing the F-Word Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Woman's Consciousness, Man's World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good White Racist?: Confronting Your Role in Racial Injustice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women, Men, and the Whole Damn Thing: Feminism, Misogyny, and Where We Go From Here Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Death in Wichita: Abortion Doctor George Tiller and the New American Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life Without Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Abortion in the American Imagination: Before Life and Choice, 1880-1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Women, Rape, and the Power of Race in Virginia, 1900-1960 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEqual Means Equal: Why the Time for an Equal Rights Amendment Is Now Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBody Battlegrounds: Transgressions, Tensions, and Transformations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Gender Studies For You
Communion: The Female Search for Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Women Don't Owe You Pretty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working For You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The War Against Boys: How Misguided Policies are Harming Our Young Men Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVagina: A re-education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost in Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist's Guide Out of the Madness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Cute When You're Mad: Simple Steps for Confronting Sexism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5When Women Kill Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trans Life Survivors Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Transgender 101: A Simple Guide to a Complex Issue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letter to a Bigot: Dead But Not Forgotten Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for When Abortion Was a Crime
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews