Talk:History of abortion

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  • Research and write section on the development of modern abortion methods: dialation and curretage, suction-aspiration, mifepristone, etc.. (Potential source)
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Contents

[edit] Formatting guideline

I propose that entries made in this article follow the timeline style:

  • 40 BC - Aristole says this and that about abortion.

But I'm certainly open to suggestions... and more sections using paragraphs. If the date is uncertain ranges and/or c. (circa) can be used.

  • c. 500 - This is incisive and important for you to know.

Actually I guess a decision needs to be made whether this will be a history or a timeline article; or even if there is a difference between the two :-)... since the History of Bratislava is in timeline form.

- RoyBoy [∞] 06:48, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Abortion Law

The Abortion law article has a history section that could be included here. Figuring out a timeline formation thereof might be tricky though.

Good call, me do some. - RoyBoy [∞] 22:16, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ancient History

Sorry -- the ancient history section I did wasn't following the timeline style.... I can try to fix it, but the only problem is that there aren't specific dates for most of that ancient stuff. -- Robotkultur

I think it's fine. The whole thing, in my opinion, doesn't have to be in timeline style. Having the ancient section filled out is good timeline or not.  :) --Chadofborg 19:15, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I concur. I was spinning my wheels trying to find dates. If we do come across dates in books by philosophers, anthropologist, historians etc. they can be timelined below the paragraph as supplements. Well done. - RoyBoy [∞] 16:58, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Innocent III

Can someone give a source for the passage on Innocent III?

[edit] This article has virtually no information on the History of Abortion

This article is almost exclusively concerned with the legal history of abortion, rather than the history of abortion itself. For example, when did the various modern techniques of abortion develop (EVA, intact D & X, etc.). How did people perform abortions throughout history? The article should mention Soranus, the 2nd century Greek physician. It should also mention that practitioners of herbal abortion were often accused of witchcraft in the middle ages. Everything else should be moved to a new article, History of abortion law or put in a subsection. Kaldari 23:37, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, instead of waiting around for someone to fix things, I went ahead and moved the existing article to History of abortion law and created a new article for History of abortion. This way both topics can be presented adequately. Kaldari 23:57, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clinton 'executive order' and ru-486

I have removed a recent edit and placed it here on the talk page:

Bill Clinton signed an executive order mandating the legalization, promotion, and domestic manufacture of RU 486

First of all, here is the text of the memorandum. This page is about abortion law, and the timeline lists notable milestones on this topic. I am not sure if this memorandum is actually an 'executive order', but despite that, this document cannot be seen as 'law' (and doesn't the legislature, not executive branch, make laws anyway?). Next, it isn't a notable milestone either. Before removing the edit, I worked on rewording it. Here is what I had:

In a memorandum to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, President Bill Clinton, reponding to a FDA import alert (#66-47) on RU-486, "directed [the secretary to] promptly assess initiatives [to]promote the testing, licensing, and manufacturing ... of RU-486", after a proprosed reassessment of the drug by the FDA.[1]

But after going through all that, I realized that this wasn't really notable. I think we'd need to include the 1989 ban on RU-486 and the 1993 rejection of the ban and the 1996 FDA preliminary approval and the 1998-99 congressional actions against the drug and the 2000 final approval. Then why not include the 1991 UK approval, and 1992 Swedish approval? My point is that this information isn't notable enough for this article (but I think I've been inspired to expand the mifepristone article).--Andrew c 01:18, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Feminists, abortion law, and ButNowYouKnow.com

I have removed the following text:

In the largely protestant U.S., through the efforts primarily of American feminists [2] like Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Emma Goldman, and physicians in the American Medical Association, and legislators, most abortions in the U.S. were outlawed through state (not Federal) laws.

First of all, abortion was made illegal in most states by 1870. The last two feminists weren't even born by then (and Emma Goldman, who BTW has an abortion clinic named after her, went on to promote the decriminalization of abortion in Russia). As for the first two, there is nothing on their pages about their efforts to illegalize abortion. You are going to need more verifiable research (see comments on Talk:Abortion in regards to your webpage source) if you are going to propose changing "physicians in the American Medical Association and legislators" to "feminists" in regards to who was driving anti-abortion law.--Andrew c 01:34, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] History of abortion

Moving it to Abortion law seems counter productive. The fact recent abortion history was fought out in the courts is granted, but about half the article deals with historical religious/cultural milestones. Moving it all into another article seemed unnecessary. Merging the two would be, I think, the best option. We could delineate two articles, but that seems unnessessary, a lot of work and creates two thinner and more importantly fragmented articles, and History of "abortion law" is too specific. Merging the two creates a larger more comprehensive article, n'est pas? - RoyBoy 800 05:51, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I asked the editor who split the History of abortion page into History of abortion law to join us here. I think there is a pretty big history section already under Abortion law. Maybe this page could be merged, with some info going back to History of abortion (such as the Jane collective bit)? Or maybe we need to just have a timeline on its own page and work to expand it? Just some thoughts--Andrew c 05:38, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

The history of abortion and the history of abortion law are two separate but related topics. This article is 99% about abortion law. (Prior to modern times, religious mores = law). I would not be completely opposed to merging the two articles, although personally I think there are two different audiences: People interested in abortion as a medical procedure (doctors, medical historians, etc.) and people interested in the controversy surrounding abortion (everyone else). If we were to merge the two articles together right now, I think the information about the development of abortion as a medical procedure would still be lost in all the legal and religious stuff. The reason I moved this article in the first place is that I was interested in finding out information about the development of modern abortion procedures (D&C, MVA, etc.). I read through this whole article and was amazed that there wasn't any substantial content about abortion itself, only information about abortion as a moral and religious controversy. It would be like the article on Marijuana only talking about drug laws and never mentioning that it's a plant. Apparently moving the article worked, as there is now a nicely developing article on the history of abortion itself. I would like to see that article develop a little more before we seriously consider remerging. I would also like to see this article changed from a timeline list to an actual encyclopedia article. As it stands now this article is somewhat tedious and not very readable. If we do eventually merge, we should make sure that the information about abortion as a legal and moral controversy does not overwhelm the information about abortion itself, as the history of abortion as a medical procedure is an interesting topic in its own right. I think a good example to go on is History of intersex surgery. The article is primarily about the procedure itself and how it has developed over the years, but it also includes a section on controversies surrounding the procedure. If we have a merged article on the history of abortion it should be the same way IMO, although obviously with abortion there is going to be a bit more overlap. Kaldari 01:19, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree with most of that; History of abortion law could be put in a subsection with its structure essentially intact. But as you said the History of abortion is developing; it would be prudent to let things be for a while and see how much it grows. - RoyBoy 800 03:39, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, back from a vacation. Essentially, I have three ideas for logical breaks in the coverage of abortion history. They are medical, legal, and moral, and would be presented as follows:

1. History of abortion: Covering the history of induced abortion, that is, explanations — including unsuccessful folk remedies like "jumping up and down" — of how it was performed in ancient times, the development of specific procedures and technology, references to abortion procedures in classical literature, etc., etc. This section should also deal with historical access to abortion procedures, and, thus, information on Victorian abortifacient advertisements and the Jane Collective would go here.

2. History of abortion law: Covering the history of abortion legislation. Should clerical opinion be held as equivalent to laws enacted by governments — or should such be covered in the section I am about to propose?

3. Historical perspectives of abortion: Covering the history of the abortion debate. The information on the opinions of some early suffragists would be moved here from History of abortion, where it could be expanded, to included actual quotations from Susan B. Anthony, etc.

Is this proposal logical and feasible? If so, should it be broken into three seperate articles, or rather merged into one collective one, History of abortion, with three major sub-sections? -Kyd 22:58, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Looks like an excellent proposal; I would prefer sub-sections in one article. It would really be the last major step to creating a robust, detailed and broad article of abortion history. Me feeling excited. :"D RoyBoy 800 17:26, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
Glad to know. I suppose we should begin working on merging History of Abortion Law into History of Abortion. -Kyd 05:38, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Future aims and leads?

I made quite a number of additions to this article. Most of these involve references to abortion in classical Greek and Roman writings. I'm leaning toward maintaining a historical exploration of abortion procedures, not the laws, or debate, thereof. Dicussion of the history of abortion law has been herded off to History of abortion law. I'm considering creating a seperate article, Historical perspectives of abortion, to cover the history of the debate.

Some other leads to investigate:

-Kyd 15:19, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

More potential sources:

-Kyd 09:05, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Victorian era paragraph is confusing

The first sentence mentions advertisements for abortion "services", but the second sentence is talking about abortifacient medicines. Were the advertisements refered to in the first sentence actually for services? Kaldari 02:21, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

The source listed for the first sentence, Histories of Abortion, says, "For example, there was a good deal of advertising for abortion services and for medicines and devices to do the job [abortion]." I've clarified the sentence. Thanks for pointing out the inconsistency. I appreciate all your help on this article. -Kyd 07:31, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
No problem. Thanks for all the research you've done to make this a decent article! Kaldari 08:47, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
You're welcome. There's still a lot left to get done though. There's a "Moral: Historical perspectives of abortion" section which needs to be written and many sources to be reviewed in the thread above. -Kyd 08:53, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
I'm wary of starting a "moral history" section. It seems like such a can of worms (and a huge can at that), but perhaps if it can be limited to well referenced sources, it won't be completely overwhelming. Personally, I'm only interested in the medical history, though. Kaldari 09:32, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

(reset indent) Well, "Moral history" is just shorthand for "Historical perspectives of abortion." It'd be a place for discussion of historical opinions which are an akward fit under Legal or Medical (such as the discussion of early suffragists, etc.). Certainly, I can see it being a Pandora's box - my experience at Abortion has proven to me that the littlest thing can inspire controversy. Personally, I, too, am most interested in the medical history of abortion, but I'm striving to be complete. -Kyd 09:41, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Choice ...

It says chinese women have to choose an abortion. Do they have a choice to, or do they not? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Vintermann (talk • contribs) 11:44, 12 May 2006.

The term "one-child policy" is a bit misleading. It is my understanding that women in China are allowed one child, who may receive services (education, medical, etc.) from the government. While they are not forbidden from having more children, these subsequent children will NOT get government support. However, there are reports, from rural parts of China, of local officials sidestepping Chinese laws and forcing women into abortions that they do not want. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/world/asia/01lawyer.html?ex=1173330000&en=6c0369d874fa8c44&ei=5070

Here's wikipedia's own article on the policy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy Darkfrog24 17:48, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Aquinas and Augustine

Aquinas and Augustine had slightly varying views on abortion and both fell short on prohibiting it. They're actual viewpoints are quite technical concerning what today would be considered the point of viability and life saving exceptions which are not included in the views of the Catholic Church as it is implied in the article.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.4.116.34 (talk • contribs) 19:27, 5 July 2006.

[edit] Hippocrates

It is extremely implausible, that Hippocrat, condemning abortion himself, would engage in abortions on living unborn. The article implied he used instruments to abort living unborn, however the context of other sources makes clear, that he only used such instruments in cases of already dead fetuses/babies.Smith2006 14:54, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

True. I checked the source referred to in this article, and it doesn't state Hippocrates would have used the instruments in order to perform abortions - it only says Hippocrates described such instruments in his writings, and that "Hippocrates himself describes how he brought about an abortion in one of his patients". This is apparently a reference to the case in which he instructed a prostitute how to induce a miscarriage (i.e. spontaneous abortion), which is already mentioned in the section. If no one has an objection to it, I'll therefore remove the clause: "which he used to perform an abortion upon one of his patients".Mkaksone 05:27, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

On the Hippocrates Oath page they do not forcefully make the case that he even wrote the Oath and leave open the possiablity that his students may have written it. Considering his knowledge of medicine he may have know how these execercises might have caused a miscarriage but could it be said for certain he gave that advice for the purposes of a self-abortion? From everything I know about him and the oath it seems a strech. Are there any others ancient sources to back this statement or are they only from modern books on the subject?--Redibaby 04:28, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] missing aspect of abortion law

I hate to make a suggestion without being able to offer anything specific, but at the moment my books are in one country and I am in another. Just wanted to say that I think this page is extremely well done and I am glad you made the decision to keep all the information together in one article.

I do think, however, there is an aspect to early 19th century through early 20th century abortion law that is left out. I believe that the predominant focus of the laws created during this time were aimed at the "quacks" who wound up poisoning and injuring women - in other words, the crime was the poisoning of the woman, not the destruction of the fetus. The focus on the fetus began to take shape, if I remember correctly, along with the idealized notions of the family and children as innocents in need of protection that marked the Victorian age.

This is an important point, I think, because it sheds light on the reason why early to late 20th century laws never (?) penalize the woman but focus instead on the provider. Initially, in general, it was the woman who was seen as the victim, and the crime was the injury to her person. I think it also lends background to the reason many abortionists, such as the ones you cite, operated for long periods of time relatively out in the open. Generally, they would get busted when a woman died (a crime that was easier for the courts to get a grip on).

I am really sorry to not be able to offer anything specific at the moment, but I'm hoping this will ring a bell with someone. Meanwhile, I'll try to get back to you with real detail.

Keep up the good work.

[edit] here I go again

I suggest there be mentions and links at the appropriate points of Margaret Sanger and Marie Stopes- there are wikipedia articles on both women.

[edit] St. Augustine

In the "Legal: History of Abortion Law" section it states that St. Augustine calls abortion murder. I never read anything that said St. Augustine calls abortion murder and am wondering where it is sourced from. Jcd1121 04:44, 21 December 2006 (UTC)John D

[edit] Early Modern Feminists

(Reformation to Industrial Age, Last Point)

I think that it is a mistake to refer to Susan B. et al's views as pro-life. This is actually a common error in internalist historiographies. People assume that Plato and midieval scholars and modern ones all meant the same thing when they talked about, say, "the soul," and so they drew more parallels than were actually there. The same has been true of ideas like mercantilism and communism.

I'm not contesting that Susan B. and even Margaret S. never condemned abortion, but they weren't part of the pro-life movement as we understand it today and I think that using that particular term might confuse readers into thinking that they were.

I suggest the alternate phrasing, "some notable first-wave feminists, such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mary Wollstonecraft, espoused anti-abortion views," or " some notable first-wave feminists, such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mary Wollstonecraft, espoused views rejecting abortion."

12.144.50.221 19:57, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Time periods

The sectioning system under "History of abortion law" is based upon List of time periods (as well as other articles, such as Renaissance, Middle Ages, and Early Modern period). -Severa (!!!) 15:46, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

The sectioning system in this article, under "History of abortion law," does not conform to the list of time periods. The list of time periods does not mention a "post-industrial" period, whereas the present article does mention such a period. The "post-industrial" period did not begin until during or after WWII, according to the vast majority of historians and sociologists: "Western sociologists usually maintain that the basis of the post-industrial society began to be formed in the late 1950s and that the process has been gaining ground ever since." (see Inozemtsev V.L. The Inevitability of a Post-Industrial World: Concerning the Polarity of Today's World Order, Global FOCUS, Vol. 13, No. 2. P. 60-79).
Thus, the present article is flatly incorrect to say that the year 1920 falls within the “post-industrial” period. I will again edit the article to correct this error, in order to conform the article to List of time periods.Ferrylodge 16:09, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
I see that Sevara would now like to change the time frames to the following:
Middle Ages (476 AD to 16 century)
Early Modern (17th century to 19th century)
Modern (1920s to present)
However, this is not consistent with the list of time periods, which says:
Middle Ages – 5th to 15th
Early Modern – 14th to 18th
Modern, 18th to 20th
Ferrylodge 16:39, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
The time frames were chosen loosely to conform with the years of bulleted items on the list. There's a lot of gaps (nothing from 400s to 1100s, or from the 1600s), and, the titling is adapted to fit around those gaps, so it doesn't line up perfectly to List of time periods, which is why I said it was "based upon" the List, not "an exact replica" of it. I've switched to centuries which should bypass any concerns which there might be regarding more ambiguous era names. -Severa (!!!) 17:26, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Severa, I'm glad that you have finally rejoined the discussion. I generally have no problem with your proposal to switch to centuries. However, I do have a problem with your crude threat in the edit summary regarding "3RR". Your bullying is not going to intimidate me from using common sense and neutral information at Wikipedia. I regret that you persist in this attitude.Ferrylodge 17:37, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

(undent) Ferrylodge, edit summaries like "bullying"[3] - especially when applied to editors such as Severa - are unacceptable per NPA, AGF, and CIVIL. I strongly recommend you modify your approach. You do not WP:OWN this article, any more than anyone else. Reminding people of 3RR is considered a helpful thing, not a rude thing, unlike your post and summary. KillerChihuahua?!? 18:53, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

I was previously accused of bullying here, and no one leapt to my defense. I have not myself accused anyone else at Wikipedia of bullying until now. If the 3RR warning had the slightest merit, then I would not have made that allegation. Cannot baseless warnings amount to bullying? I think so.
I have never suggested that I "own" this article. Nor do I consider it "helpful" for you to remind me of that obvious fact.Ferrylodge 19:12, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Please read the linked page, and moderate your approach. KillerChihuahua?!? 19:25, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Which edit that I made at this article gives you the impression that I think I "own" this article?Ferrylodge 19:47, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Ferrylodge, it isn't helpful to accuse a highly respected editor of bullying and threatening, or to imply, as you did, that you have a monopoly on common sense and neutrality. [4] I'm sure the 3RR warning was well intended. It would be better to focus on content from now on, and not other editors. Cheers, SlimVirgin (talk) 20:20, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Also, List of time periods is neither policy nor a guideline, and in fact looks poorly written. There's no requirement at all for editors to follow it, and it would make a lot of sense not to follow it. It's pointless using the words "Renaissance" or "Enlightenment" in headers rather than dates, because readers may not know what the former refer to. SlimVirgin (talk) 20:23, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
I just realized List of time periods isn't even in project space. It's just an article. Feel free to ignore it completely. SlimVirgin (talk) 20:24, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for your cheery comment, SlimVirgin. However, in the comment of mine to which you refer, I said: “I generally have no problem with your proposal.” Those are obviously not the words of someone who believes s/he has a monopoly on common sense or neutrality.
You say that you’re sure that the following comment was well-intended: “Don't revert again or it'll be 3RR.” I respectfully disagree. What might have been well-intended would have been an acknowledgment of the mistake that caused me to revert (once) in that instance.
As mentioned, I generally have no problem with how the date structure of this article is now set up. It was not I who first mentioned and requested adherence to the list of time periods, here at this discussion page.
It would indeed be better to focus from now on on content, and not other editors, and therefore I will do so, unless in response to further comments on that subject.Ferrylodge 20:36, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Good, thank you. :-) SlimVirgin (talk) 20:43, 15 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Prehistory to 5th Century

I've been thinking about it for a few months, and I think the Exodus quote is out of context. The placement of the quote and especially the reference to Augustine's interpretation of it in the opening paragraph, seems to imply that Exodus forbids abortion and/or equates it with murder. What this quote actually forbids, however, is assault, specifically an assault against a pregnant woman that results in miscarriage. Even states with ultra-liberal abortion policies consider involuntary abortion to be a crime. Furthermore, the passage establishes that the punishment for this assault is to be a fine, far short of the punishment for murder.

This quote has certainly been important in the history of abortion rhetoric, but it doesn't actually ban voluntary abortion. I think we need to either provide a more detailed discussion of its context and the way it has been interpreted through the ages (which ought to include, of course, Augustine's interpretation) or just leave it out.

In slightly related news, the fact that we are including only antiabortion quotes in this passage might mislead readers into thinking that the entire period was antiabortion. The opening paragraph acknowledges that "Some previous civilizations are thought to have tolerated even late-term abortions," but the quote section doesn't read like "opposing voices." I think this would be less misleading if we called it something else, but the best thing to do would be to dig up some comparable evidence of acceptance or neutrality. I'll see if I can find some, but I'd like it if other people looked too.

Darkfrog24 12:35, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I found some good ones on religioustolerance.org (http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_hist.htm).
Augustine seems to have espoused Aristotle's idea of "delayed ensoulment." He seems to have believed that abortion before ensoulment was not murder but that abortion after ensoulment was. The fact that we only quote him referring to abortion as murder could be taken as misleading. I'll see if I can fix that. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Darkfrog24 (talk • contribs) 21:37, 11 March 2007 (UTC).


Clarified Augustine and found a verbatim translation of Enchiridion! In chapters eighty-five and eighty-six, Augustine was actually answering a question about whether 1. unformed and 2. formed fetuses would be resurrected with other people at the end of the world. The answers were 1. I don't know and 2. yes. He does refer to them in adjacent chapters, but it really looks to me like they're two different ideas, so I split them up into two pieces and added an explanation in the intro paragraph.
I removed the sentences "Now, from the time that a man begins to live ... denied an interest in the resurrection of the dead" because, taken out of their original context as they are, sound to me like he's focusing on fetal life, but in the original it becomes clear that he's talking about the resurrection of the body at the time of the second coming, anyone's life.Darkfrog24 22:39, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
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