HUMN 303 Women’s Reproductive Solutions in the 19th Century & Interpret Their Historical & Contemporary Impact Women’s Rights in the Early 19th Century

HUMN 303 Women’s Reproductive Solutions in the 19th Century & Interpret Their Historical & Contemporary Impact

Women’s Rights in the Early 19th Century

In the early 19th century, feminist activists emerged, opposing abortion and advocating for women’s rights. They saw abortion as a means for men to avoid responsibility for pregnancies and viewed it as degrading. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a pioneer activist, strongly opposed abortion, considering it dangerous for women. Concurrently, different birth-control movements emerged in America. The Population Control campaign aimed to decrease the population through sterilization, the Eugenics campaign sought to limit childbirth among the lower class, and the Voluntary Motherhood campaign focused on women’s rights. While the population and eugenics campaigns supported the legalization of contraception, the voluntary motherhood campaign opposed it (Kohn & Holmes, 2000; Gordon).

Contraception in the 19th Century

The campaign against contraception led by physicians and supported by religious institutions resulted in the outlawing of contraception, including abortion. The American Medical Association played a significant role in making contraception a political issue and worked to eliminate midwives. The Comstock Law of 1873 classified birth control materials as obscene, making their distribution a federal crime. By 1899, contraceptives and abortion were illegal throughout the United States. Despite opposition, the use of birth control continued to increase (Gordon, p. 42-44).