**Please be aware that this post pertains to termination of pregnancy. If this is a topic which causes distress or triggers mental health conditions, please read no further.**
In researching for a novel which I am currently writing, I came to the realisation that whilst I already knew a great deal about the topic of pregnancy termination in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I actually knew little about the practice in the eighteenth century (1700 - 1800). In this particular novel, the main character becomes aware that one of her friends is thinking of terminating a pregnancy, and so I decided to look a little further into what that would have entailed.
Firstly to this essay comes the legality of it. Most people who are familiar with Victorian history or even twentieth century history or television programs which depict abortions will expect that such a practice was always illegal in England prior to the 1967 ruling which allowed it to be legal in certain circumstances.[1] However, in fact abortion was not made completely illegal in England until 1803.[2] Before then, abortion until the quickening (when the baby moves) was not considered illegal, and even abortion after this was not severely punished as it would be later on. The quickening was considered by the church to be when the soul entered the fetus, hence the distinction between the two.[3] The legal situation remained like this for centuries. Despite that in the time this novel was set, which I have given the vague time-frame of the late eighteenth century (1750 – 1800ish), it was therefore still completely legal to terminate a pregnancy before the quickening. It was however, still frowned upon. In a book on medicine from the mid-1700s, this statement appears:“Any mother who procures an abortion does it at the hazard of her life yet there are not a few who run this risk merely to prevent the trouble of bearing and bringing up children. It is surely a most unnatural crime, and cannot, even in the most abandoned, be viewed without horror and in the decent patron, it is still more unpardonable.”[4]
After 1803, however all forms of pregnancy termination were illegal and the punishments were harsh. Before the quickening, abortion was punishable with a fine or imprisonment, or even transportation for up to 14 years. After quickening, abortion was punishable by death.[5]
Whilst it might be assumed that the early methods of abortion were quite different, to the quack methods of the nineteenth and early twentieth century back-street abortionists, there is a massive amount of cloud still over how these procedures were actually done. In her essay on eighteenth century abortion, Kate Lister explains that in fact unless the woman died, there are no medical records at all of what was done.[6] However, from as early as the middle ages, there is mention of the use of herbal concoctions for the purpose.[7] “Powders” are also cited in the early American sources, which were also likely powdered herbal or chemical concoctions.[8] Tim Hitchcock in his book on eighteenth century sexuality, describes several advertisements for tonics and herbal remedies which were printed readily to the public. Some claimed openly that they were to "restore menstrual flow", whilst others were more discreet, giving a list of symptoms and the disclaimers that pregnant woman should beware that the concussions would “certainly bring on a miscarriage.”[9]
The truly horrific images, then, of surgical abortion being performed by “back street” doctors looks to be a rarer concept in the eighteenth century than it was to become in the centuries following. This is likely due the the legality issues. That is not to say it did not happen though. The use of steam and the insertion of water into the uterus were certainly applicable to the eighteenth century England as abortion methods. The use of surgical instruments too, is much older than the eighteenth century, with mentions as early as the tenth century of their use in Persia[10] and even to Greek and Roman times.[11]
Therefore, abortion, whilst considered immoral by the church in the eighteenth century, was not illegal. The practice of eighteenth century abortionists is still very clouded in regards to methods, and whether surgical types of interventions were used. It is likely that the main ways of achieving a miscarriage were powders and medicines which were consumed. The understanding of surgical methods however, did exist and it is highly possible that these treatments which were barbaric and dangerous through lack of regulation, were indeed used during this time, locked away behind closed doors.
[1] William Buchenan, ‘Domestic Medicine’ (London: Stradel and Cadell, 1769)
[2] Kate Lister, ‘Bringing down the Flowers’: Abortion in Eighteenth-Century Britain,’ (Unpublished Essay/Thesis, 2007)
[3] https://abortionrights.org.uk/history-of-abortion-law-in-the-uk
[4] William Buchenan, ‘Domestic Medicine’ (London: Stradel and Cadell, 1769)
[5] R Sauer, ‘Infanticide and abortion in nineteenth-century Britain’, (Population Studies Journal, 32:1, pp. 81-93)
[6] Kate Lister, ‘Bringing down the Flowers’: Abortion in Eighteenth-Century Britain,’ (Unpublished Essay/Thesis, 2007)
[7] John M Riddle ‘Eva’s herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West’ (London: Harvard University Press, 1997)
[8] Cornelia Dayton, ‘Taking the Trade: Abortion and Gender Relations in an Eighteenth-Century New England Village’ (The William and Mary Quarterly Vol. 48, No. 1 (Jan, 1991), pp. 19-49
[9] Tim Hitchcock, ‘English Sexualities, 1700–1800’ (London: Macmillian Education, 1997)
[10] Carol Joffe, ‘Abortion and medicine: A sociopolitical history’ (Unknown book chapter, 2009)
[11] J.M Riddle ‘Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance’ (London, Harvard University Press, 1994)