Physicians and Abortion: Some History
The Physicians' Crusade Against Abortion
November 2006
By Frederick N. Dyer
What is the legacy of the laws overturned by Roe v. Wade? You probably can see some of it when you look in a mirror. If through late immigration, early Catholic ancestry, or sheer coincidence you do not owe your own existence to these laws, you can still be sure that most people you know or know of in the U.S. would not be alive today had it not been for these laws. The laws were passed from 1860 to 1880 to counter an epidemic of induced abortions among married Protestant women. Physicians were largely responsible for their passage. However, abortion legislation was only one goal of the "physicians' crusade against abortion," as it was termed by historian James C. Mohr. The other was to convince women to continue unwanted pregnancies. The physicians were highly successful in enacting stringent anti-abortion laws. They were not as successful in preventing abortions, but most Americans can be immensely thankful for their successes ...
November 2006
By Frederick N. Dyer
What is the legacy of the laws overturned by Roe v. Wade? You probably can see some of it when you look in a mirror. If through late immigration, early Catholic ancestry, or sheer coincidence you do not owe your own existence to these laws, you can still be sure that most people you know or know of in the U.S. would not be alive today had it not been for these laws. The laws were passed from 1860 to 1880 to counter an epidemic of induced abortions among married Protestant women. Physicians were largely responsible for their passage. However, abortion legislation was only one goal of the "physicians' crusade against abortion," as it was termed by historian James C. Mohr. The other was to convince women to continue unwanted pregnancies. The physicians were highly successful in enacting stringent anti-abortion laws. They were not as successful in preventing abortions, but most Americans can be immensely thankful for their successes ...