A History of Reproductive Rights

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The ability to decide when or if we have children has been an essential human struggle for all of recorded history. Some may believe that abortion is a modern phenomenon. But people have been finding ways to end unwanted pregnancies for thousands of years. And ancient people were often more accepting of it than we are today. From an herb in ancient Greece that was so popular it went extinct, to medieval Popes who argued for women’s rights. From a plan B recipe published by an American founding father, to the horrifying measures desperate women without access to legal care have resorted to. Today we will explore the history of abortion. What’s more, we’ll take a wider view on times throughout history when governments attempted to control their people through reproductions, including in Nazi Germany, Communist Romania and China, and in the United States. Fair warning: this episode will deal with many difficult and dark chapters in history. Please do not take any of this information as medical advice.

Sources:
Susan Klepp, Revolutionary Conceptions: Women, Fertility, and Family Limitation in America, 1760-1820. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2009.
Professor Leslie J. Reagan from the University of Illinois, author of ‘When Abortion Was a Crime’. Conversation with Dr. Kate Lister on Podcast Betwixt the sheets.


Sawboned History of Abortion:

Music: Dream Of The Ancestor by Asher Fulero

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