The world before Roe v. Wade

by Sharon Kayne

With the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade coming up this Saturday [1/22/05], it?s easy to think of abortion as a relatively recent issue ? as an issue brought to the fore because of the feminist movement by women who want unlimited sexual freedom without any consequences. But that couldn?t be farther from the truth. The history of abortion is as old as the history of human civilization.

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For as long as there have been unwanted pregnancies there have been efforts to terminate them. According to French anthropologist George Devereux, abortion was practiced in nearly every early culture on earth (A Study of Abortion in Primitive Societies, 1955, Julian Press). The ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all had their methods. Techniques tended to fall into three general categories: the ingesting of poisons or herbs, the introduction to the uterus of a foreign object, and the external application of force on the abdomen or vigorous physical exertion. Abortion techniques appear in the oldest known medical texts, and abortion implements unearthed at Pompeii bear a striking resemblance to modern surgical tools. In many early cultures, abortion before quickening ? when the baby?s movement can first be felt (between 18 and 22 weeks) ? carried neither social stigma nor legal ramifications.

Even in Christianity?s infancy, abortion was not considered a sin if done before “ensoulment” ? the time at which it was believed that the soul entered the baby?s body. Christian ensoulment took place at six weeks for boys, 12 weeks for girls. In early Islam, ensoulment took place anywhere between six and 17 weeks. Catholic leaders from St. Augustine (354?430 AD) to Pope Innocent III (early 13th century) believed that an early abortion was less of a sin than the sexual act that preceded it.

While abortion in premodern times enjoyed greater social acceptance, it carried considerable risks for the mother ? sterility, chronic health problems and death were among the possible outcomes women faced. A failed abortion might also result in the birth of a damaged child. Such outcomes, of course, were the possible consequences of childbearing as well.

In early America, abortion laws were patterned after English Common Law, which allowed abortion before quickening. Early term abortions were not made illegal until the mid?19th century. It was during this timeframe that the modern health care paradigm took root and physicians, seeking to wrest control from midwives ? who attended to births and abortions ? pushed for strict anti?abortion laws in Europe and America. In some states, abortions became illegal even in cases of rape or incest and when the mother?s life was at risk. Following suit, Pope Pius IX declared in 1889, that abortions performed at any stage were wrong.

In the 1840s, Charles Goodyear had patented the process for vulcanizing rubber, thus creating the first widely available and reliable form of birth control ? rubber condoms and diaphragms. Many communities, however, outlawed not just the use of contraceptives but the dissemination of information about them as well. Safe abortions could still be obtained, but they were limited to the people who could either afford to bribe a doctor or travel to a country where abortion was legal. The deaths due to back alley or home abortions were disproportionally of poor and minority women.

Anti?abortion laws, of course, do little if anything to actually stop abortions. It is estimated that during the 1950s and ?60s as many as 1 million abortions were performed in the U.S. every year. During the 1960s, most states began to reform their anti?abortion laws and, by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, abortions were already legal in 17 states. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), American abortion rates peaked in 1990, and have since declined to a little more than 1 million annually. Studies by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that conducts reproductive research, found that approximately 46 million abortions are performed worldwide each year. Almost half of them are performed illegally. The Guttmacher study goes on to say that the vast majority of abortions (88 percent) are done at or before 13 weeks; 60 percent are performed on women who already have children; and 54 percent of women seeking abortions say they used contraception during the month they became pregnant.

The advent of modern medicine has meant abortions are not only safer, but they can be done earlier. Consequently, abortion?related death rates have plummeted. Modern medicine has also afforded us a better understanding of fetal development. It has allowed us to perform the “miracle” of conception inside a petri dish, and store frozen embryos indefinitely. It has yet to find a viable substitute for a woman?s womb, but perhaps one day it will.

What modern medicine cannot give us is the answer to the question that?s shadowed abortion since the dawn of man: Not “when does life begin?,” but “when does humanity begin?” It is a question, perhaps, that is best left up to philosophers and clerics, not governments and courts. CW

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The world before Roe v. Wade

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams