Filter by:

Filter by published date

Madame Restell

‘Hag of Misery’

The abortionist Madame Restell is central to the story of how American women’s reproductive freedom was dismantled in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Oil painting by Claire Lehmann called "Painter’s Hand, Patron’s Hand."

Learning and Not Learning Abortion

The fact that most doctors like me don't know how to perform abortions is one of the greatest scandals of contemporary medicine in the US.
Cartoon of Madame Restell and Mrs. Bird accompanied by a skeleton.

Female Physicians in Antebellum New York City

"Female physicians" did a lot more than provide abortions, but abortion soon encompassed how others perceived their work.
Abortion protestors kneeling by pro-abortion signs.
partner

Failing to Embed Abortion Care in Mainstream Medicine Made It Politically Vulnerable

Actions by the medical profession in the 1970s still reverberate today.
Pro-abortion protests
partner

Before Roe v. Wade, U.S. Residents Sought Safer Abortions in Mexico

Transnational networks have long helped pregnant people navigate treatment options.

Abortion's Past

Before Roe, abortion providers operated on the margins of medicine. They still do.
Mug shot of a woman in the Jane Collective.
partner

Abortion Was Illegal. This Secret Group Defied the Law.

We tell the story of the Jane Collective, which provided thousands of illegal abortions fin Chicago rom 1969 to 1973, before Roe v. Wade.

San Francisco’s Queen of Abortions Gets Her Moment of Recognition

Two new biographies look at the life of Inez Burns, an uncompromising and extravagant turn-of--the-century woman.
People holding up signs of support for abortion rights for immigrant women
partner

Why the Courts Had to Force the Trump Administration to Let a 17-Year-Old Have an Abortion

A 1974 case gave the antiabortion movement a new playbook to whittle away abortion rights for poor women.
A 1960s doctor's office procedure room.

One Woman's Abortion

In 1965, eight years before Roe v. Wade, an anonymous woman described the steps she took to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
Woman in a hospital bed reading a pamphlet called "After the Abortion."

Her “Health and Thus Her Life”

Abortion exceptions in legal history.
Group of doctors in lab coats holding pro-choice signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court.
partner

Abortion Is More Than Health Care

Across the history of the U.S. abortion-rights movement, it has also been a matter of equality.
Medicine chest.

The Trial That Sparked Maine's 1840 Abortion Statute

Maine passed its first abortion statute in 1840, not long after the pardon of Dr. Call. Could there be a connection?
Sakinah Ahad Shannon.

The Story of Sakinah Ahad Shannon, an Early Hero of Abortion Liberation

Sakinah discovered Chicago’s Abortion Counseling Service, better known as Jane, because she wanted to help a friend. Then she became an essential part of it.
Anthony Comstock.

One of the 19th Century’s Greatest Villains is the Anti-Abortion Movement’s New Hero

Anthony Comstock, the 19th-century scourge of art and sex, is suddenly relevant again thanks to Donald Trump’s worst judge.
"Mademoiselle V...in the Costume of an Espada," by Edouard Manet, a painting of a woman dressed as a matador holding sword and cloth.

A Private Matter

Abortion and "The Scarlet Letter."
Abortion advocates marching in protest with signs

What Feminists Did the Last Time Abortion Was Illegal

How abortion activists responded in the wake of the 1989 Webster decision and what we can learn from their efforts.
Illustration of two women.

Why Norma McCorvey Switched Sides

The perils of turning the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade into a political symbol.
A police officer stands with another officer in front of a house, as a hand holding a speculum appears in the foreground.

How Women Were Made to Suffer for Their Abortions Before Roe v. Wade

Interrogated, examined, blackmailed: how law enforcement treated abortion-seeking women before Roe.

Abortion in Pre-Roe South Carolina

Uncovering Charleston's "backstreet" abortion networks.

The Women of Jane

The story of an underground abortion service that operated pre-Roe vs. Wade.

The Murderer Who Started a Movement

David Gunn’s murder was the first targeted killing of an abortion doctor in America. His killer now has an opportunity for parole.
Collage of newspaper clippings about Jacqueline Smith's death.

A Christmas Abortion

On Christmas Eve 1955, Jacqueline Smith died from an illegal abortion at her boyfriend Thomas G. Daniel’s apartment.
Illustration of a faceless Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, holding sonograms of the unborn Christ and John the Baptist.

How an American Film in 1984 Shaped the ‘Fetal Personhood’ Movement

The success of the movie ‘The Silent Scream,’ made by onetime abortionist Bernard Nathanson, continues to influence the pro-life narrative.
Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates speak during the 'Gates Foundation' press conference at the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 30, 2009" by Remy Steinegger.

Philanthropy’s Power Brokers

An in-depth reckoning with the Gates Foundation as a discrete actor is long overdue.
The Jersey Devil, a winged creature with horns and a goat-like head, amidst trees wrapped with vines.

Birthing the Jersey Devil

A mythical creature that lurks in the pinelands of New Jersey has served as a reminder of the horrors that result when reproductive freedoms are destroyed.
People on a porch in Fort Verde, Arizona, 1886.

Arizona’s 1864 Abortion Law Was Made in a Women’s Rights Desert – Here’s What Life Was Like Then

Abortions happened in Arizona, despite a near-complete abortion ban enacted in 1864. But people also faced penalties for them, including a female doctor who went to prison.
Inventor of mifepristone Etienne-Emile Baulieu in lab

The Long and Winding History of the War on Abortion Drugs

While these pills are making headlines in the US, where a Texas judge tried to ban them, the story of their invention is often overlooked.
Three demonstrators hold proabortion signs outside the federal courthouse in Amarillo, Tex. (David Erickson/AP)
partner

Abortion Pill Decision Reveals How the Debate Has Changed Since Dobbs

The medication abortion decision by a federal judge in Texas focused on the rights of fetuses and the interests of doctors — not the rights of women.
The Lady of the Rockies statue. Photo by Doug Zwick/Flickr.

The 90-foot Sentinel of Butte, Montana

What does a statue dedicated to mothers reveal about women’s rights?

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person