My Body, Whose Choice: Exploring the History of Reproductive Rights and Rhetoric in the United States

With the recent confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court, many people have expressed concern that Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that ruled criminalizing abortion and undue state regulation of abortion services violated a women’s constitutional right to privacy and in effect protects the rights of women to pursue safe abortions, will be overturned. But this current election cycle and political milieu is not the first time women’s reproductive rights have been on the ballot and at the forefront of political life in the United States. This raises the question of when, and why, reproductive rights have become so politicized. The aim of this timeline, therefore, is to explore the history of reproductive rights in the United States through an interactive timeline. Questions answered here include what are reproductive rights, how has the definition of reproductive rights changed over time, and what have national policies been in response to these changing definitions? This timeline also explores the connections of reproductive rights to chattel slavery, eugenics, and feminist movements. In these ways, we aim to broaden our exploration of reproductive rights to those outside of the United States to see how United States’s reproductive rights policies have shaped other countries, such as through Cold War rhetoric and, more recently, the (re)implementation of the Global Gag Rule. To do so, this timeline makes use of images, videos, quotations, and other media. Enjoy.

Mum's the Word: 1619-1899

Reproduction is as old as human history, and just as old has been personal, social, and political, and even economic attempts to coerce and control reproduction.

Common contraceptive methods during America's early history included prolongation of breastfeeding, or the "lactation amennorhea method," douching, and the use of a myriad number of herbs thought to provide contraceptive benefits. Male condoms have taken many forms as well, and by the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution had ushered in prophylactic such as vulcanized rubber condoms that were reused until broken or cracked. Likewise, there were many different termination of pregnancy methods, including the use of abortifacients, emenogogues, and purgatives, and later on mechanical methods such as membrane rupture through the use of metal rods and dilation and cutterage.

From centuries of abortion acceptance, to the priorities of slaveholders, nativists, and even fathers, the changing landscape of reproductive rhetoric in early America lays the groundwork of varying interests attempting to define whom reproduction is for. This period also helps us begin to understand the concept of reproductive rights, as the seeming agency of women during this time (agency that is, however, ultimately taken away) cannot be divorced from the intersections of race and class.

Sarah Grosvenor's headstone in Pomfret, Connecticut. (https://history.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2014/09/TakingtheTrade-website-Sarah-Grosvenor-grave-image.jpg)

September 14, 1742

Death of Sarah Grosvenor

In mid to late May of 1742, 19-year-old Sarah Grosvenor concludes that she is illegitimately pregnant by Amasa Sessions and, at the behest of Amasa, begins taking a powdered abortifacient, a practice known at the time as "taking the trade." On August 2, Dr. John Hallowell performs an incomplete manual abortion on Sarah, resulting in her miscarrying two days later. However, this produces a uterine infection that ultimately kills Sarah on September 14.

Three years later, on November 1, 1745, a warrant is issued for the arrests of Amasa Sessions, Dr. John Hallowell, Zerviah Grosvenor (Sarah's sister), and Hannah Grosvenor (Sarah's cousin). Hallowell was accused of conspiracy to cause an abortion and murdering Sarah, while Sessions and both Grosvenor women were accused of accessory to murder.

On March 20, 1747, a bill of indictment was returned for Hallowell only that indicts him for the misdemeanor of attempting to cause an abortion, to which he pleads not guilty; a jury returns a verdict of guilty. Before the sentencing can be executed, however, Hallowell flees Connecticut for Rhode Island.

"Slaves Waiting for Sale" by Eyre Crowe (1861). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_slavery_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Crowe-Slaves_Waiting_for_Sale_-_Richmond,_Virginia.jpg)

Slave Breeding

For a myriad number of reasons, such as men outnumbering women, cultural habits of enslaved women that prolonged breastfeeding and inhibited conception, and high infant mortality rates, local enslaved populations were difficult for slaveholders to maintain. This became more difficult in 1807 following the passage of the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves which outlawed the United State's involvement in the international slave trade.

To offset these limitations, slaveholders encouraged and forced and raped enslaved women to have children, beginning around the age of thirteen. The reproductive capabilities of young women were also often advertised, and some slaveholders promised women their freedom in exchange for producing many children. Because of the practice of slave breeding, by 1860 there were four million enslaved African people in the United States, despite the fact that only 400,000-500,000 Africans ever landed in the Americas since 1619.

The 19th Century

For centuries up until the early 1800s, the practice of abortion was accepted and seen as a private issue. Many Americans did not consider abortions immoral (at least those done before "quickening," or when a woman could feel the fetus move) and instead thought it sometimes beneficial, especially as a way of avoiding the public humiliation of giving birth out of wedlock. For this reason, many early public abortion 'scandals' and cases involve a woman's pregnancy by a man to whom she was not married. Furthermore, doctor-induced abortions were considered a safe procedure at this time despite little clinical knowledge about the female reproductive system and what is now considered obstetrics and gynecology. For these reasons, abortions were easily accessible by the early nineteenth century, so much so that abortion rates rose by nearly 300% over the first half of the century. At the same time, the (white) American fertility rate declined, known as the 19th Century Demographic Transition.

1813

Commonwealth v. Addicks

Into the 1800s, the parental preference rule meant that fathers had custody and absolute control over their children while mothers had no power. However, in the Pennsylvania court case of Commonwealth v. Addicks, a woman was granted custody of her two young daughters in a decision in which the court held that "considering [the children's] tender age, they stand in need of that kind of assistance, which can be afforded by none so well as a mother." This case set the precedent for the Tender Years Doctrine which was built on the assumption that women are biologically better suited to care for children, and particularly for daughters.

Lillian Gish as Hester Prynne in the 1926 film The Scarlet Letter based on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne of the same name. The relationship between Asenath Smith and Ammi Rogers may have been an inspiration for the novel. (https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSZO3iN05JhhIdJb-_ffMsEf4s73RdPqXhnQg&usqp=CAU)

May 22, 1821

Connecticut Passes the First Law Restricting Abortion

This law prohibited the induction of abortions through poisoning after "quickening," which refers to the movement of the fetus, usually occurring within the first four months of pregnancy.

"Every person who shall, willfully and maliciously, administer to, or cause to be administered to, or taken by, any person or persons, any deadly poison, or other noxious and destructive substance, with an intention him, her or them, thereby to murder, or thereby to cause or procure the miscarriage of any woman, then being quick with child, and shall be thereof duly convicted, shall suffer imprisonment, in new-gate prison, during his natural life, or for such other term as the court having cognizance of the offence [SP] shall determine."

This law was likely passed as a reaction to the trial of Ammi Rogers. Ammi Rogers was an Episcopal minister who engaged in a sexual relationship with Asenath Smith. Rogers and Smith were expected to marry, but after discovering her pregnancy, Rogers reneged, asking Smith to abort the child. To do so, Rogers procured abortifacients for Smith; after this failed, he attempted a mechanical abortion, which also failed. Later on Smith delivered a stillborn child, thus initiating Rogers's unusual trial for the charge of abortion. However, because there were no statutes outlawing any of Rogers's abortions, after a mistrial Rogers was ultimately convicted of sexual assault.

Within 20 years of the passage of this law, 10 out of the then-26 states passed similar laws, particularly laws that banned medicinal rather than mechanical abortions, as obstetrics and gynecology was a fledgling industry of wealthy, white male professionals at this time.

Ann Lohman, aka Madame Restell, on the cover of National Police Gazette on March 13, 1847. (https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/National_Police_Gazette_Restell.jpg)

March 18, 1839

Madame Restell Posts the First Ad for Her Reproductive Health Clinic

TO MARRIED WOMEN.—Is it not but too well known that the families of the married often increase beyond what the happiness of those who give them birth would dictate?… Is it moral for parents to increase their families, regardless of consequences to themselves, or the well being of their offspring, when a simple, easy, healthy, and certain remedy is within our control? The advertiser, feeling the importance of this subject, and estimating the vast benefit resulting to thousands by the adoption of means prescribed by her, has opened an office, where married females can obtain the desired information.

— New York Sun, March 18, 1839

Ann Lohman, better known as Madame Restell, was one of early 19th-century New York's most well-known reproductive 'physicians.' Out of an office on Greenwich Street, Lohman sold and mailed abortifacients and performed mechanical abortions. Lohman also opened a boardinghouse where women with unwanted pregnancies could give birth in anonymity and facilitated the adoption of infants.

Lohman and her business became personal targets of Anthony Comstock and the New York State Legislature, resulting in Lohman facing many lawsuits and even jail time. As a result of the stress of such harassment, Lohman died by suicide on April 1, 1878.

May 7, 1847

Founding of the American Medical Association

The American Medical Association (AMA) was founded "as a way for physicians to set nationwide standards and to recognize those physicians who practiced medicine correctly, for the benefit of the American public." One of the earliest missions of the AMA was to criminalize abortion in order to root out midwives and amateur practitioners and legitimatize physician medicine. This campaign was also undertaken because many physicians viewed abortions as immoral and a violation of the Hippocratic Oath.

Nativism

In the second half of the 19th century, the campaign to criminalize abortions in the United States grew out of growing nativist and anti-Catholic movements. During this time, immigrant populations, particularly Catholics and nonwhites, were increasing, while those of white Protestants were decreasing. In response to this, anti-abortion leaders such as Horatio R. Storer advocated against abortions, as the typical nineteenth-century abortion seeker was a middle- or upper-class married white woman, asking questions such as whether the West would "be filled by our own children or by those of aliens?"

"St. Anthony Comstock, the Village Nuisance" by L.M. Glackens (1906). This cartoon depicts Anthony Comstock as a monk thwarting shameless displays of excessive flesh, whether that of women, horses, or dogs. (https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.26089/)

March 3, 1873

Comstock Act

The Comstock Act, named for chastity activist Anthony Comstock, was an anti-obscenity bill passed by Congress on March 3, 1873 that defined contraceptives as obscene and illicit and made it a federal offense to distribute birth control, or information about contraceptives, through the mail or across state lines.

Turning Century, Turning Tides: 1900-1945

The early 20th century marked the beginning of the Progressive Era in the U.S. and was characterized by an increase in social activism, including activism related to reproductive rights and women’s rights. The prohibition of the distribution of birth control and information about birth control put in place by the Comstock Act led activists like Margaret Sanger to advocate for greater access as a means for family planning. The fight for access to contraception continued and the first half of the 20th century set the stage for the birth control movement and the invention of the birth control pill.

However, the 20th century also welcomed the eugenics movement into the United States, and with it, eugenic ideology in legislation and medical practices. This time period saw a rise in forced sterilizations of people deemed ‘unfit’ to procreate based on the belief that mental illness, criminality, and promiscuity were inherited from parents and that sterilizations offered a way to create a more improved society. These practices showcased the disparities in reproductive health across gender, class, and race as they disproportionately affected poor women of color in the country.

These legislations showed the role of the government in interfering with women's ability to make decisions over their own bodies in regards to whether or not they chose to have children. The increasing role of women in the workforce and in the political environment challenged the popular view held that women's role and value in society was solely based on motherhood. Still, women faced restrictions in obtaining birth control, abortions, and other resources for planning and supporting a family. Cases in the Supreme Court also challenged the authority of parents over their children and ultimately showed that the government holds a higher authority in decisions when it comes to the child's welfare.

Cover of an Issue of Birth Control Review.

Early Birth Control Movement

Alongside the Eugenics Movement, the early twentieth century also gave rise to the beginnings of the birth control movement. Founded by Margaret Sanger, an avid advocate for women’s rights, the movement aimed to make birth control available to women following the Comstock Act of 1873 which prohibited the distribution of contraceptives through the mail. Sanger believed that birth control was key in ending the cycle of women’s poverty as she had often seen in the homes of poor immigrants she visited as a nurse.

Eugenics Movement

The Eugenics Movement was an early 20th century movement in the US that sought to improve the quality of the human population by selecting for desirable traits. Inspired by the British founding scientist of eugenics, Francis Galton, and by Mendelian genetics, the agriculturist and breeder Charles Davenport founded the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) in the US. This office tracked the genetic traits of families and claimed that those with undesirable traits and who were deemed ‘unfit’ were mostly immigrants, minorities, and the poor. Eugenics aimed "to improve the natural, physical, mental, and temperamental qualities of the human family " by eliminating individuals with undesirable traits through segregation or sterilization. Criminality, mental illness, “feeblemindedness,” and alcoholism were among the things that were thought to be inherited genetically and could be eliminated from the population through eugenics, inspiring legislation and medical practices that aimed to decrease the number of ‘unfit’ individuals and also limited reproductive rights well into the late 20th century.

"Exactly 92 years after the infamous Buck v. Bell decision, the Center presents a partial screening of “A Dangerous Idea: Eugenics, Genetics and the American Dream”—an award-winning documentary exploring the legal history of the eugenics movement in the United States. Following the screening, join the film’s co-writer and executive producer Andrew Kimbrell, acclaimed author and journalist Daniel Okrent, and law and bioethics scholars Paul Lombardo and Dorothy Roberts for a conversation exploring the dark history of eugenics and the Constitution."

“Youth and Life” Posters for Teenage Girls and Young Women. From the Social Welfare History Project, Virginia Commonwealth University

1914 - Establishment of the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA)

The American Social Hygiene Association established its headquarters in New York City and aimed to address the venereal disease epidemic through educating the public about sexually transmitted diseases and working against the spread of prostitution. Some of its early efforts worked to decrease venereal diseases among soldiers during WW1 and prostitution near bases. However, such sexual education focused on the fault of promiscuous women in transmitting infections. Much of the focus on sexual education for women was in relation to their purpose of having children.

ASHA also called for sex education to be made available in schools and community sex education initiatives to be supported by the government in order to allow for all Americans to be educated. As a result of these efforts from ASHA an other progressive advocates of sex education, in 1914 the National Education Association passed resolutions that called for sex education to be taught in school and in 1921 47 out of 48 state boards of health cooperated with the Public Health Service to control STDs. This marked the beginning of a movement to better inform men and women of sexual education in order to allow for informed decisions on sexual and reproductive health.

Map of Eugenic Sterilizations in the U.S. From The Harry H. Laughlin Papers, Truman State University

April 26, 1909: Asexualization Acts

The Asexualization Acts of 1909 and subsequent acts passed in 1913 and 1917 allowed the forced sterilization of 20,000 men and women in California over a span of 70 years. Although similar sterilization laws were enacted in several states, including the first in Indiana in 1907, those that occurred in California comprised about one third of all sterilizations done in the US over the course of this time period. The legislation granted medical superintendents in asylums and prisons to “asexualize” patients or prisoners who were considered “mentally ill” or “deficient,” and those who were considered “feeble minded.”

However, the law disproportionately affected African Americans and people of Mexican descent. In 1920, African Americans constituted about 1% of the population in California but comprised 4% of the sterilizations. Mexican men made up 7% of the sterilizations and Mexican women 8%, while they only made up 4% of California’s population. It is estimated that the percentages could be higher since reparations of hundreds of Mexicans were forced and carried out by the Deportation Office of the Department of Institutions and those individuals may have been unaccounted for.

Such sterilizations were driven by eugenic ideology and preoccupation of gender norms of the time. Eugenics practices such as sterilizations were considered necessary to protect society from the offspring of people who were thought to be inferior or a threat to society. As procedures became less medically risky, increasing numbers of women deemed “immoral” or “unfit for motherhood” underwent sterilization procedures. Mainly women of color were being stopped from having children in attempts to prevent a “less civilized” race than the Anglo-Saxon middle class. As white middle-class women increasingly called for the right to vote and a space in political spheres, concerns grew that this would lead to a decrease in women’s role as mothers and thus become a threat to Anglo-Saxon dominance as a whole. At a global scale, forced sterilization practices in California were praised by Hitler in “Mein Kampf” and implemented in Nazi Germany within six months of Hitler’s Reich taking power in 1933.

A comprehensive database with each state's eugenics history was compiled by students at the University of Vermont and can be found here.

Women sitting outside the birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn. From Underwood Archives/ TIME

October 16, 1916: First Birth Control Clinic

In 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn where nurses provided information about family planning to women who visited. The clinic eventually led to her arrest and conviction. However, the court ruled that physicians could prescribe contraceptives to women for medical reasons, which allowed Sanger to open a clinic in 1923 which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The clinic provided contraception to women as well as gynecological services for prevention of pregnancies, sex education, marriage counseling, and referrals for safe, illegal abortions.

In the 1920s and 30s, Sanger aligned herself with the eugenics movement as a way to provide evidence for the need for birth control and a way to gain support for her movement from eugenicists. The rhetoric of eugenics became a large part of her speeches on the importance of birth control. In 1920, she publicly stated, “ birth control is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit [and] of preventing the birth of defects.” Although she gained followers from the eugenics movement at the beginning, many ended their support when birth control proved to be an unsuccessful eugenic tool.

Although Sanger’s efforts in part led to the destigmatization of birth control in the early twentieth century, her ties with the eugenics movement also further pushed the notion that there should be a societal effort to control the population of ‘undesirables’ in order to achieve a improvement in the genetic quality of the population.