The Moral Basis for Anti Abortion Takes Another Hit


To all the self righteous, prayer shouting, hissing and out loud-public-Bible-reading anti abortion protestors I suggest reading a little of your own history. It is void of moral content.

I've read about this history for years and it is nice to see it reappear now. The anti abortion propaganda that Christianity has always been against abortion and that the "anti" gained traction through the faith is all B.S.

Early abortion, known as "restoring the menses," was a normal practice in colonial America well into the 19th century. It was of little interest to men and information about it was circulated mostly among women. Restoring "the menstruate" was a goal for good health. When women were unable to menstruate the problem was thought to be a blockage that needed to be removed.

Until at least the 1830's there was no moral issue surrounding abortion up to the time of "the quickening." The quickening meant the pregnancy was four to six months along. It was not until the 1850's and 60's abortion before the quickening started to be viewed as something other than simply a solvable health problem exclusively involving women. How did this happen? It happened because of men and money.

Until the 1840's, women's health care, including abortions was done by women. They were trained to a level we today think of as midwives. In the 1840's, however, male domination of some professions and a male attitude of superiority began to appear in popular newspapers and magazines. Along with this was the training of male doctors. 

Male doctors needed the revenue being earned by midwives. They wanted the public to know men were superior and especially superior were male doctors. They began talking up fetus development from conception as a marketing tool. They scoffed at "the quickening." 

Racial and class snobbery soon followed. Too many white middle class women were getting abortions so the population of Catholics and non whites was sure to grow and dominate. Anti abortion would save the country for white Protestants.  Forget "Ann Rand" as to source of abortion politics. It came first from anti abortion politics. 


Comments

  1. tsmJune 2, 2022 at 6:24 PM

    nice tirade old man. just so happens that it was in the mid 19th century that we came to more fully understand human reproduction. the medical and legal community responded accordingly. as to prayer shouting, hissing, etc. take a long, long look at the hissing, yelling, intrusive, abusive behavior of your friendly pro-abortion zealots. why should I have to keep reminding you of this unpleasant fact? as to your "historical" dissertation, it's the sort of thing that George Orwell liked to talk about.

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    Replies
    1. JonJune 2, 2022 at 9:10 PM

      tsm "as to your 'historical' dissertation, it's the sort of thing George Orwell liked to talk about." All I did was follow the history in the link. Then I checked the history in Wikipedia. Exactly the same. It's the same history repeated in several sources for decades. Male doctors used the continual fetus to take business from midwives. They complained that abortions would grow the percentage of Catholics and other races. This all came from public statements in newspapers and books. Maybe a little study on your part would be helpful.

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