An Overview of Women’s Reproductive Rights
For most of history, women were forced into a certain societal role by something they had little control over: their body. The lack of effective birth control meant women had no choice but to marry early, bear lots of children, and remain in the home. This issue of birth control has been a focus of political and moral debate for some time in the United States, but thankfully women continue to see social progress in this arena.
Early Birth Control: Illegal, But Widely Used
While the methods were far cruder than they are today, birth control was widely practiced, before (and after) it was made widely illegal in the U.S. in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Pessaries, withdrawal, condoms, and douching were all used to prevent pregnancy. Abortion, too, was a relatively common practice.
Mechanical and internal methods of abortion continued to be used in America’s early history, despite its widespread illegality. It was considered a sort of open secret that women would see particular doctors when they were pregnant, and desired not to be. Many women were even open about the practice with their husbands. According to the New York Times, over 200 abortionists were practicing in New York City in the late 19th century, with the safety being generally quite good. Letters and women’s diaries at the time show that most women considered the practice acceptable, and even Catholic and Protestant groups considered abortion permissible in the early 19th century, if it occurred before the fetus “quickened” or magically gained life.
During the late 19th century, as a greater biological understanding of conception evolved, the Catholic church came to oppose abortion at any point during the pregnancy. During the early 20th century, women began birthing in hospitals under the care of doctors, rather than with midwives at home, and they further lost control over conception and the birthing process. In 1905, even the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, called birth control decadent and immoral for smaller families.
A Changing Tide
While the climate towards women and birth control was quite bad at this time, there were advocates emerging. Margaret Sanger, the champion of birth control and founder of Planned Parenthood, began campaigning to remove the stigma from dialogue about birth control.
She opened the first birth control clinic in 1916 in Brooklyn. Hundreds of women patronized the clinic in the month before Sanger and those associated with the clinic were arrested. Sanger kept advocating for birth control, despite her setback. In 1937, the Comstock laws, which made birth control illegal, were repealed in many states.
The Blessing of Science
Scientific advancement, along with increasing pressure from women’s rights advocates, meant that birth control continued to grow in acceptance during the latter half of the 19th century. In 1960, the birth control pill was approved by the FDA, although in many cases it was difficult to access for young, unmarried women. In 1973, Roe v. Wade legalized first-trimester abortion, although heated emotional and moral debate continues to surround the subject.
The 1980’s and 90’s saw an expansion in the types of birth control available, from different pills, to intra-uterine devices, to the birth control patch, ring, and shot. Today, Planned Parenthood and school organizations make birth control widely and easily accessible for teens and underserved women. Although a recent resurgence in abstinence-only education and assaults on funding for birth control have arisen, the past few decades have been largely positive for women’s reproductive freedom.
Source:
The History of Birth Control. (2011) Yale.