Essential History

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The US Supreme Court agrees to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This case, in which the legality of a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks gestation is under question, may threaten the precedent set by Roe v. Wade.

Additional anti-abortion legislation (including “reason bans” limiting abortion for fetal impairment and/or fetal genetic conditions) are enacted in the states of Ohio and Arizona.”

“The US general public becomes aware of multiple allegations for forced sterilizations, listed as a form of torture by the United Nations, are commonly being carried out on immigrant women in ICE detainment facilities at the US/Mexico border.

ACLU - Immigration Detention and Coerced Sterilization: History Tragically Repeats Itself

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“In reaction to laws placing a burden on persons seeking abortion care in Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down provisions restricting the manner in which abortion clinics function in the ruling of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016).”

“Three individuals are shot to death and nine more are injured during a mass shooting by an anti-abortion extremist at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. The attacker later claims that he is “a warrior for the babies.””

“The Affordable Care Act (ACA) becomes US law, taking a step to promoting access to reproductive care through measure including but not limited to mandating that OB/GYN services be available without a required referral, preventive services be performed without co-pays, and insurance can not deny coverage based on a pre-existing condition.
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“While serving as an usher during Sunday morning worship services at the Reformation Lutheran Church, Dr. George Tiller is assassinated via gunshot to the head at point blank range. Dr. Tiller was one of the few physicians performing abortions at advanced gestational ages at the time, and had been wearing body armor since 1998 following FBI insight that he was being targeted by anti-abortion militants.”

“Roe v. Wade (1973) is again reinforced by Stenberg v. Carhart (2000), which strikes down a ban on intact dilation and extraction abortion in the second trimester. ”

“Dr. Barnett Slepian, an OB/GYN and abortion provider in New York state, is assassinated inside of his home via gunshot fired through his window after he returns home from synagogue.”

“Bombing at a Birmingham abortion clinic kills Robert Sanderson, a member of the police force and security guard at the clinic. The bomber later confesses to additional bombings, including another abortion clinic bombing in Atlanta one year prior.”

“Shannon Lowney, a receptionist at a Boston-area Planned Parenthood, is murdered by gunshot when an anti-abortion extremist opens fire in the waiting room. Five others are wounded during the attack.

Immediately following, the attacker drives to another health clinic two miles away and opens fire in the waiting room, murdering receptionist Lee Ann Nichols with a hunting rifle at point blank range. The duffle bag he abandons at the scene is found to contain 700 rounds of ammunition.”

“Dr. John Britton and Mr. James Barett are each assassinated outside of the Pensacola abortion clinic where Dr. Britton practiced as a physician and Mr. Barrett worked as a clinic escort. ”

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The Hyde Amendment is revised to carve-out 3 narrow exceptions: the federal government may provide funding to Medicaid recipients seeking abortion care for pregnancy by rape, pregnancy by incest, or pregnancy which will directly cause maternal endangerment.”

“In an attempted assassination, Dr. George Tiller is shot in both arms with a semiautomatic pistol outside of his abortion clinic in Kansas. He continues to provide abortion care to patients traveling from around the country to Kansas following recovery from his injuries.”

“Dr. David Gunn is assassinated outside of his abortion clinic in Florida by an anti-abortion extremist who claimed to be acting on behalf of God.”

“Roe v. Wade (1973) is reinforced by the ruling of Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).”

“SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective is launched. This is the first organization founded to promote the reproductive justice movement. Notably distinct from the reproductive rights movement (which was primarily represented by white women and focused primarily on legislative abortion rights), the reproductive justice movement first emerged in the 1970s and finally represented women of color, women with disabilities, LGBTQ+ people, and women of low income.

The following women were critical in the creation of the reproductive justice framework: Toni M. Bond Leonard, Reverend Alma Crawford, Evelyn S. Field, Terri James, Bisola Marignay, Cassandra McConnell, Cynthia Newbille, Loretta Ross, Elizabeth Terry, ‘Able’ Mable Thomas, Winnette P. Willis, and Kim Youngblood.
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“The United States Supreme Court ruled in Eisenstadt v. Baird that unmarried women have the right to access birth control. Prior to this, only married women were granted this right with the 1965 ruling in Driswold v. Connecticut.

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Allen Northeved reports the first successful ultrasound-guided amniocentesis for prenatal diagnosis. ”

“The first genetic counseling training program is founded at Sarah Lawrence College.”

“While the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 eliminates racial restrictions to immigration and naturalization laws, it maintains the standard of immigration quotas introduced by the Johnson-Reed Act.”

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Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant, b. 1920- d. 1951) presents to a Johns Hopkins Hospital outpatient clinic with abnormal bleeding. At this time, Johns Hopkins Hospital was the only hospital in her area which treated Black patients. Ms. Lacks receives the diagnosis of epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix and dies only six months later. Tissue from one of her early cervical biopsies (procedures which occurred during her treatment, and debatably without her knowledge/understanding) continues to thrive in and is kept, unbeknownst to both her family. This tissue, now referred to as HeLa cells, is an immortal cell line which would become both the means for globally used, life-saving medical research advancement and a stark example of the exploitation of historically underserved and underrepresented populations (specifically the Black community) by the medical system.
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“Franz Josef Kallmann co-founds the American Society of Human Genetics. Kallmann was a Nazi supporter and member of the German Society of Racial Hygiene who suggested that mandatory sterilization programs of “defective” individuals should be extended to include even unaffected relatives of persons with psychiatric conditions.

Kallmann trained under Ernst Rudin, who is remembered for designing, justifying, and funding mass sterilization of adults and children with psychiatric conditions.”

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Dr. Sheldon Reed coins the term “genetic counseling,” terminology used to distance his work advising families regarding risk for apparently heritable disease from “genetic hygiene” issues of the time.”

“Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order resulting in the forced relocation of approximately 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry, of which 62% were US citizens, to “internment” (concentration) camps in the western region of the country.”

“Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party establish the dictatorship of the “Third Reich,” casting Nazi Germany as the imperial successor of the German Empire and, prior to that, the Roman Empire.”

“The Rockefeller Foundation funds racial studies within the Nazi Party until 1939, despite earlier evidence that this research was supporting the defamation and demonization of Jews.
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“In the case of Buck v. Bell, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Virginia state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the “unfit” (based on Harry Laughlin’s model eugenical sterilization law) does not violate the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Carrie Buck, an 18-year-old, poor, white woman from Virginia (whose mother had a record of sex work and three children of differing paternity) was deemed to be “feeble-minded” and “promiscuous,” and was sterilized through compulsory salpingectomy. Carrie’s own pregnancy with her daughter, Vivian, was conceived through rape by Carrie’s adopted mother’s nephew.”

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The Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act) amends the Immigration Act of 1921 so that new immigration limits are capped at 2% of the 1890 U.S. census quantity. While this federal law does not eliminate the non-white, non-northern European, non-Protestant persons already in the U.S. by 1924, it ensures that the national demographic of the next generation will primarily consist of Northern European Protestants.”

“Harry Laughlin drafts a model act for compulsory sterilization entitled “Model Eugenical Sterilization Law” (within his publication “Eugenical Sterilization in the United States”) in response to confusingly-worded sterilization laws already in existence in several states. Laughlin’s proposed law suggests the “feeble-minded,” the “insane,” people convicted of crime, people with epilepsy, people with alcoholism, people with blindness, Deaf people, and people with physical impairments would all be subjects for eugenic sterilization.

By 1924, a total of 30 states will pass eugenic sterilization laws.”

“Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League (later Planned Parenthood Federation of America).

Importantly, Sanger supported much of the eugenics philosophy of the time, which was rooted in racism, ableism, and classism.

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“U.S. immigration policy is changed forever with the passing of the Immigration Restriction Act (also referred to as the Emergency Quota Act) of 1921. For the first time in American history, the government incorporates numerical limits on immigration as well as a quota system (“National Origins Formula”) which establishes these limits.

Formulated in response to an influx of “undesirable” immigrants from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe, the Act restricts the number of immigrants from each foreign country to a maximum of 3% of the quantity from the 1910 U.S. Census.”

“The U.S. government imposes mandatory literacy tests to all immigrants through the Immigration Act of 1917. Persons >16 years old who cannot read 30-40 words of their own language from “an ordinary text” are not permitted to immigrate.

Also referred to as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act, this law followed the example set by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and prohibits immigration from China, British India, Afghanistan, Arabia, Burma, Thailand, the Malay States, the Dutch East Indies, the Soviet Union (east of the Urals), and the majority of the Polynesian islands. Certain professionals were excluded from the immigration ban, however, allowing physicians, lawyers, civil engineers, ministers, teachers, and select others to immigrate to the U.S.A.
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“Charles Davenport founds the Eugenics Record Office and appoints Harry H. Laughlin as its director. Together with his embryologist/geneticist wife Gertrude Davenport, Charles Davenport aimed to demonstrate the prudence of “race betterment” to the world through the human application of Mendelian Genetics principles.”

“Pregnancy becomes further medicalized with the cementing of obstetrics as a medical discipline rooted in capitalism, paternalism, and white supremacy. Midwives (who were largely interracial) were replaced with white, male gynecologists who perpetuated the belief that midwifery was a degrading means of obstetrical care.

By 1910, abortion is a criminal offense in all states and in all cases expect to save the life of the pregnant person. As such, many abortion services went underground under the guise of services for “female complaints.””

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Francis Galton, the cousin of Charles Darwin, publishes “Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development.” In this work, he coins the term “eugenics” and ignites the movement of the following decades. The impact of the eugenics movement in the United States of America was profound and far-reaching, as many leaned on this ideology to promote elimination of those with mental or physical disabilities, those from lower socioeconomic status, or those from communities of color.”

“Expanding upon race restrictions from prior immigration acts, the Immigration Act of 1882 creates restrictions for entry of social classes of people into the United States. Any person deemed “likely to become a public charge” was eligible for deportation within 5 years of entry. Pregnant people, the sick, the poor, and the mentally ill were all at risk of being labelled as such.”

“The Chinese Exclusion Act expands upon the Page Act of the prior decade by prohibiting all immigration from China. While exceptions are made for teachers, students, diplomats, merchants, and travelers, the law is not repealed until 1943.
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“The Page Act marks the end of open borders in the United States by barring entry to all Chinese women. The law originates in response to the sex worker industry in the American West at the time, as many Chinese men arrived during the Gold Rush but were financially unable to bring their spouses with them to the States.”

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The Comstock Law prohibits sending “obscene, lewd or lascivious,” “immoral,” or “indecent” publications through the mail and states that any individual involved in selling or possessing an obscene book, pamphlet, picture, drawing, or advertisement be charged with a misdemeanor. This includes writings or advertisements pertaining to contraception and abortion.”

“The Emancipation Proclamation is issued on September 22, 1862, and becomes effective January 1, 1863, changing the legal status of over 3.5 million African Americans living in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. Word of emancipation takes over two years to reach geographically isolated persons so that enslaved African Americans in Galveston, TX, did not learn of their freedom until June 19, 1865.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude (except as punishment for crime), is not ratified until December 18, 1865.

Cultural change is not enacted as quickly as executive orders, however, and personal autonomy is incredibly limited for African Americans who were previously enslaved. “They had been freed practically with no land nor money, and, save in exceptional cases, without legal status, and without protection,” wrote W.E.B. Du Bois.

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Physicians’ Crusade Against Abortion, led by Dr. Horatio Storer (the “father of American gynecology”), is formed with the assistance of the American Medical Association.

Throughout the mid 1800s, the medicalization of pregnancy continues to discredit the valuable roles and services of midwives in reproductive healthcare.
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““Female physician” Madame Restell (born Ann Lohman) begins providing surgical abortion services in New York City. She states, “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?”

During this time, induced abortion through medication was relatively common 1) among white, married, Protestant women, and 2) prior to quickening. Surgical abortion is still illegal.

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“The Popular Health Movement dismisses the integrity of traditional people’s medicine in favor of state medical licensing laws that established “regular doctors” as the only credible healers.

Additionally, anti-abortion legislation begins to appear in the United States of America. For example, an early New York statute made a felony of abortions performed after quickening (identification of fetal movement).”

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Slavery in the United States persists and enslaved Black women continue to be viewed as chattel property valuable for reproductive labor with no legal right to control their reproduction.

Modern scholar Dorothy Roberts defines this reproductive value as “a regime of practices, and laws, and ways of thinking about Black women’s bodies that permitted coercion of their reproduction.”
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“Sarah Grosvenor takes an herbal remedy (“taking the trade”) designed to end her pregnancy. She becomes ill from taking the remedy in abundance, and is seen by Dr. Hallowell, who subsequently performs a surgical abortion. Sarah dies two weeks following the procedure, likely due to sepsis. Three years after Sarah’s death, Dr. Hallowell is convicted of a misdemeanor for his involvement in her care. Although herbal abortions are socially accepted at this time, surgical abortion is not.

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“Obstetrical forceps are increasingly incorporated in childbirth. As forceps are legally recognized as a surgical instrument (and women are banned from surgery as a medical practice), the potential business of obstetrics is recognized, and the medicalization of childbirth is promoted.”

“Midwifery is the last remaining healing art available for women practitioners. It is provided as a neighborly service.
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“Particularly following the Protestant Reformation (1517 CE), church-sanctioned witch hunts promote the messaging of “non-professional” healing as equivalent to heresy. With the rise of medicine as a university-trained profession (from which women were barred), if a woman were to be found to have “cure[d] without having studied, she is a witch and must die.”

This practice successfully perpetuates the narrative that a woman healer who serves the lower class must be suspicious, and potentially malevolent.
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“The European medical profession arises throughout the 13th century, during which time the Church imposes controls on medical education and practice. Physicians are required to practice with the aid of a priest, but such treatment is only available to nobility and members of the upper class.

In contrast, it is widely accepted that the poor face illness as an affliction from God for their sins. In many cases, the poor rely on local women healers as medical providers. Yet, without access to Church-sanctioned “healing” practices, many of these remedies are subject to the suspicion of magic or witchcraft. Attacks on peasant healers were viewed as attacks on “magic” vs attacks on medicine.

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Bas-relief sculptures in Cambodian temples depict massage abortions. This is a technique still practiced in parts of Southeast Asia in which medication abortion may be illegal.”

“Pliny the Elder describes juniper oil as a contraceptive tool.”

“Many abortifacients are described in use, including silphium herb; “abortion wine” from hellbore, elaterium, and scammony; and sap of myrrh (used specifically to induce abortions for pregnancies caused by rape).”

“Biblical text (Numbers 5:11-31) describes a “test for an unfaithful wife” involving bitter water to induce abortion.”

“The earliest written written description of abortion on Ebers Papyrus (Egyptian medical text) contains instructions for a honey and date poultice to be utilized to induce abortion.
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