The purpose of our project is to educate viewers on the history of abortion in the United States and the women affected by abortions. In the 21st century, the topic of abortion is over-politicalized and as a result, we tend to overlook the suffering and obstacles women encounter and are forced to overcome in these situations. We aim to de-stigmatize abortions with our project. Our unique abortion timeline includes three different components: the abortion laws and events beginning in the mid-1800s, the true, personal stories of women who are affected by these laws and abortions, and the different abortion resources available for women throughout time. Each topic appears as a different color circle on the bottom of the timeline to distinguish which story is what topic; white circles contain information on the laws and events, purple circles are personal stories, and pink circles are resources. This timeline builds on the excellent abortion timelines already in existence including the “Abortion History Timeline” from the National Right to Life organization and the “Timeline of Attacks on Abortion” from the Planned Parenthood website. While these timelines do important work such as highlight major legislations and popular law cases, our timeline combines these insights in a way that we hope is accessible for students and readers interested in learning about abortions in a more complex and inclusive way.
Women have been aborting pregnancies throughout history. There are “records dating as far back as the third millennium BCE” that contains an abortion method created from natural herbs and other plant-based remedies. The earliest abortion description is written in 1500 BCE and “comes from the ancient Egyptian medical text known as the Ebers Papyrus” (Fox). There is evidence that shows the ancient Romans, Egyptians, and Persians practiced abortions during their time. Furthermore, “early Christian (ca 3rd century CE) writers allude to contraceptives and abortifacients generally disapprovingly, prohibiting abortion within the context condemning theft, covetousness, perjury, hypocrisy, and pride” (Fox). The use of different herbs and home remedies were the only abortion methods and it was not until the late 19th century that surgical methods were being practiced.
The only resources women had for abortions in ancient times and continuing into the 1900s came from nature. The abortion methods women relied on were herbal methods from plants, flowers, etc. and handmade sharp tools created from rocks, tree sticks, etc. One popular herb was Pennyroyal, a small leafy plant belonging to the mint family. This herb “dates at least to the 1200s when manuscripts show herbalists preparing it, but the oil is extremely dangerous and modern herbalists avoid it” (fox). In the 11th century, “a medieval herbal reference called De Viribus Herbarium referred to herbs to induce abortions. Pennyroyal was among the herbs mentioned but so were catnip, rue. Sage, savory, cypress, and hellebore” (fox). Other methods to “induce abortions have included iron sulfates and chlorides, hyssop, dittany, opium, madder in beer, watercress seeds and even crushed ants” (fox).
Abortion becomes an illegal practice: Abortions and other “surgical procedures, were extremely risky. Hospitals were not common, antiseptics were unknown, and even the most respected doctors had only primitive medical educations” (History of Abortion). Abortions were “considered a misdemeanor until "quickening," the time when a woman felt a fetus' movements” (Manning). Most people held strong religious viewpoints on abortion. “Religious ideas about sin held that a woman's "virtue" was ruined if she had sex outside of marriage” (Manning).
Connecticut passes first anti-abortion law in the United States that prohibits women from having an abortion after “quickening.”
In the 1800s, pills to induce an abortion were common and consisted of herbs such as “tansy oil, pennyroyal, rue, ergot, perhaps opium” which caused “dangerous side effects including "damage [to] internal organs, seizures, death” (Manning). Abortion procedures were either done by practitioners in secrecy and oftentimes, women would abort the fetus by themselves due to the lack of medical resources. Types of abortions methods consist of “shaking [the body] so hard that the embryo falls out,” “pounding down with brute force on [her] abdomen,” “bloodletting” - presumption was that bloodletting would induce menstruation and abort the fetus rather than merely make a pregnant woman much weaker,” “squatting over a steaming pot of onions,” “stabbing [the inside] of [her] vagina with sharp objects, and a plethora of other unsafe home remedies (13 Old-Time Abortion Methods).
In the 1830s, a female abortionist named Ann Lohman, otherwise known as Madame Restell, was working on the streets of New York City. She was an early advocate for reproductive rights and “advertised and sold” contraceptives as well as medications that induce a miscariage. However, her advertisements “claimed the medicines would alleviate menstrual symptoms but were understood to mean that they'd end an unwanted pregnancy” (Manning). If her medications failed, Madame Restell would perform an abortion. According to Manning, “in 1844 Maria Bodine, a 26-year-old unmarried servant girl, found herself pregnant by her boss, Joseph Cook. He sent Maria to see the infamous Madame Restell” (Manning). Due to Maria being an unmarried pregnant girl, the high stigma surronding abortions in the 1800s, and Mr. Cook’s refusal to help support the child, her only choice was to have an illegal abortion. Before Restell performed the abortion on Maria, she gave her a shot of whiskey since there were no antiseptics. After the abortion, Maria states that “[she] was in great agony all night” (Manning). Although this process was severely painful for Maria, Restells’s abortion saved Maria from the horrors of society. On March 13, 1847, three years after Maria’s abortion, “Madame Restell was arrested and tried on charges of having performed an abortion” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). She was only held in prison for a year. In 1878, after the Comstock Act was released in 1873, Madame was charged again. On the morning of her court date where she would face her charges, “she commited suicide by cutting her throat” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica).
In 1962 Arizona, a woman named Sherri Finkbine was pregnant with her fifth child; however, her child was at severe risk to be born with extreme abnormalities. She was “using sleeping pills that her husband had brought back from a trip to Europe, and the pills, she found out, contained thalidomide” (Matt). During the 60s, thalidomide was found to cause birth defects and the loss of an unborn baby. She and her doctor decided she should proceed with a therapeutic abortion meaning an abortion induced because the pregnancy is harming the mother. However, abortions were illegal in Arizona and Finkbine was denied an abortion. Luckily, “[she] was finally able to obtain an abortion in Sweden on August 18, 1962. It was confirmed at the time of the abortion that her child would have been severely deformed” (Matt). Unfortunately, this option was only available to someone with significant financial resources. Who knows how many poor women were in similar situations but could not afford a trip to Sweden. Once Finkbine provided her story to the media with the hope that she could educate people on the effects of thalidomide, she became the face behind the fight to legalize abortions.
Horatio Robinson Storer, M.D. (1830-1922), “a pro-life advocate establishes a national drive by the American Medical Association (AMA) to end legal abortion” (Chicago Tribune).
Twenty states have passed anti-abortion laws.
The Comstock Act, a federal legislation passed by Congress, “designed for the suppression of trade in and circulation of obscene literature and articles of immoral use,” prohibits women’s access to contraceptives and abortions (US Legal, Inc. “Comstock").
On March 15, 1875, Susan B. Anthony, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, delivered an anti-abortion speech called “Social Purity.” Her speech acted as a voice for many other anti-abortion feminists in the late 19th century (History.com).
The American Medical Association (AMA) advocates a written law that outlaws abortions unless the procedure is “necessary to save the life of the mother” (Legal History of Abortion).
The birth control movement increased in popularity, lead by Margaret Sanger, a birth control activist and sex educator.
“As soon as I realized I was pregnant, I started looking for a solution to my problem. I knew I wanted an abortion. First I went to my own doctor. He confirmed that I was pregnant but told me he had no help to offer. My sources of information were usually men, not women. They gave me names and telephone numbers. I was getting really panicky as time was going by and I was going nowhere. Eventually I got to a nurse in East Liberty. I went to her house. She didn’t have an office or anything like that. I know she told me that the cost would be four hundred dollars and that I had to have the money in cash. Now, that was a lot of money in 1946. I went to my bank and cashed in my savings bonds, my savings account, and everything else I had. The day of my abortion, I went by myself. I remember a very small room with a couch. I was told to lie on the couch. That is where the abortion was done. Nothing was sterile. I lay down on the couch, and she put something up my vagina. I never saw what it was. It sort of hurt. Then she put some sort of packing in and gave me some medicine in a small container. They were dark brown pills. She never told me what the medicine was; she just said that I should take it when I got home. I left the same way I had come – alone and on foot. At that point, I didn’t have a feeling of fear. It was more like disgust: “This is an awful thing to have to go through.” But my overwhelming emotion was one of relief. I went home and took the medicine. I thought I might be okay, but I got terribly sick. I don’t know if it was the abortion or the medicine. In the middle of the night I went to the bathroom and suddenly began hemorrhaging. I start screaming. My mother rushes in. She called a doctor, and it was the same doctor I had originally gone to. As soon as she told him I was bleeding, he knew immediately what was going on and sent an ambulance” - anonymous (1932 Methods).
Abortions are allowed in the states of Alabama based on the physical health of the mother.
The following story is from a woman named Ann Rossiter who is currently 75 years old. She shares her abortion story to The Telegraph news nearly 53 years later.
The early abortion machine known as the “vacuum aspiration-style abortion” becomes popular all over Europe due to people considering this method to be safer than alternative methods.
In San Francisco, CA, The Society for Human Abortion is established by Patricia Maginnis. SHA was a nonprofit educational organization that “challenges the law by openly providing information on abortion and contraception,” (Legal History of Abortion) however, the organization “was disbanded in 1975” (Society for Humane Abortion).
In Griswold v. Connecticut, “The Supreme Court ruled that a state's ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy.” Estelle Griswold, the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, was arrested for being an “accessory” providing women with illegal contraceptives (The Supreme Court).
Abortions are allowed in the state of Mississippi only for cases of rape and incest.
The first statewide right-to-life organization is founded: Virginia Society for Human Life. During this time, “abortion is classified as a felony in 49 states” (Chicago Tribune). John Arthur Love, the 36th Governor of Colorado, signs the first law to remove its abortion laws (Colorado). North Carolina, Oregon, and California passed similar laws as Colorado. People v. Belous: Dr. Leon Phillip Belous is “convicted for referring a woman to an illegal abortionist, which leads to a 1969 California Supreme Court decision in favor of a right to choose abortion. President Kennedy forms the Presidential Advisory Council on the Status of Women and calls for the repeal of abortion laws” (Legal History of Abortion).
Abortion becomes a highly controversial topic: people continue fighting for access to abortions and there is an increase in right-to-life- organizations across states. In order to organize the information people are receiving among states, “Lawrence Lader and Dr. Bernard Nathanson help found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, now called NARAL Pro-Choice America” in October 1968 (Legal History of Abortion). The board of directors for this association grows over the next five years .Representatives within this diverse board vary from “doctors,” to “lawyers,” to “nurses,” to “homemakers,” and “educators” (Abortion History Timeline).
The following story is from a retired civil servant named Mary Pimm.
The following story is about a mother who was pregnant with a baby who was at risk for severe abnormalities.
On April 11th, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller signs a bill in the state of New York that “allows abortion on demand up to the 24th week of pregnancy” (Abortion History Timeline). This bill repeals that state’s previous law written in 1830 that prohibits abortions after “quickening” unless the physical health of the mother is at risk. Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington passed similar laws to the one Rockefeller signed.
On April 21, The Supreme Court rules that “law permitting abortion [is] only to preserve a woman’s life or “health.” However, the Court makes it clear that by “health” it means “psychological and physical well-being,” effectively allowing abortion for any reason” This is decided due to United States v. Dr. Milan Vuitch case (Abortion History Timeline). The Comstock Act is revoked. Under certain circumstance, abortion is allowed in 14 states.
The Griswold act is extended to unmarried couples as well as married. American Law Institute (an independent organization in the U.S. that works on improving the law) is enforced in 13 states. There are four states in the U.S that allow abortion on demand (women have the right to an abortion at their request). There are 31 states that allow for abortion only if it will save the mother’s life.
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States made the decision to legalize abortions across states in the Roe v. Wade law case. This decision “made it possible for women to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained medical practitioners” (History of Abortion). This ruling is based on a women’s right to privacy. On the same day, “Doe v. Bolton defines “health” to mean “all factors” that affect the woman, including “physician, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age” (Abortion History Timeline). November 1, “The first issue of National Right to Life News is published” (Abortion History Timeline).
Jan. 22: In Washington D.C., the first March for Life, an anti-abortion annual rally, is held. “Federally funded research using fetal tissue is prohibited through the National Science Foundation Authorization Act” (Chicago Tribune).
Feb. 15: “Boston abortionist Kenneth C. Edelin is found guilty of manslaughter for the death of an unborn child” (Abortion History Timeline). This ruling would be overturned the following year when the Massachusetts Superior Judicial Court determined it is only manslaughter if, outside of the mother’s body, the baby is alive. Mar. 10: Senator James L. Buckley and Senator Jesse Helms introduce the Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Senate. The “human life amendment refers to a constitutional amendment establishing a legal definition of a person that includes unborn children. It makes killing of an unborn child a crime punishable under existing murder laws” (US Legal, Inc. “Human).
Apr. 28: Human Life Amendment receives 40 votes off of a “test vote” (Abortion History Timeline). However, a constitutional amendment needs 60 votes -- two-thirds of the senators. June 28: The U.S. House approves Hyde’s Amendment (sponsored by Rep. Henry Hyde). This amendment “prohibits Medicaid funding of abortions with narrow exceptions” (Abortion History Timeline). July 1: “In Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth, the court rejected a parental consent requirement and decided that (married) fathers had no rights in the abortion decision. Furthermore, the Court struck down Missouri’s effort to ban the saline amniocentesis abortion procedure” (Abortion History Timeline). Dec 17: Edelin’s conviction (manslaughter) is overturned at Massachusetts Superior Judicial Court. It is only manslaughter if, outside of the mother’s body, the baby is alive.
June 20: There is no federal or state obligation to fund public assistance programs for abortion regardless of the expenses of childbirth whether its for an indignant mother or medically necessary. This was put into place by the Supreme Court due to Maher v. Roe, Beal v. Doe, and Poelker v. Doe (Abortion History Timeline).
Parental consent is mandated. It is found unconstitutional to perform an abortion in the hospital after the first trimester.
The following story is from Edith G. Tolchin in an article by "Bustle"
June 30: “In Harris v. McRae, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Hyde Amendment, ruling that there is no constitutional right for women to receive abortions at public expense." (Abortion History Timeline)
Minors can now petition court for no parental permission when it comes to abortions (Bellotti vs. Baird).
1982 - Mar. 10: “The Senate Judiciary Committee approves the Hatch Amendment, which would give the states and Congress joint authority to regulate abortion." (Abortion History Timeline)
June 15: “In Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down state requirements that abortions performed after the first trimester be done in a hospital, women’s right to know laws, and waiting periods after information is provided to the woman seeking abortion before she can consent to an abortion. However, the Court rules that states may insist that only licensed physicians perform abortions.” (Abortion History Timeline)
Both the White House and Congress are pro-life.”Congress works to pass a Human Life Amendment and Human Life Bill (in case the amendment was rejected by the states.” (studentsforlife)
In June, a pro-life organization called National Teens For Life is founded.
“Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists invalidates Pennsylvania statute that required informed consent and other abortion regulations” (studentsforlife).
July 30th: President Ronald Reagan “announces at a meeting of pro-life activists that “a program which does provide counseling and referral for abortion services as a method of family planning will not be eligible for Title 10 funds.” August 25th: “President Reagan appoints a federal task force to encourage adoption as an alternative to abortion.” On October 23rd: the “nomination of pro-life Judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court is rejected by the U.S. Senate, 58-42. Pro-abortion groups conducted a fierce campaign, which resulted in his defeat. This seat ultimately went to Anthony Kennedy, who voted to reaffirm the core holdings of Roe in 1992” (Abortion History Timeline).
A law in the state of Washington titled “Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services” “‘[declares] that "life begins at conception"; and barring the use of public facilities for abortions is found unconstitutional” (chicagotribune).
Hodgson v. Minnesota invalidates Minnesota requirement for two-parent notification for minors. Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (Akron II) upholds Ohio statute requiring a minor to notify one parent or obtain a judicial waiver” (studentsforlife).
The following story was submitted anonymously to the website After Abortion Stories.
May 23: In Rust v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Bush Administration’s regulations that prohibit routine counseling and referral for abortion in 4,000 clinics that receive federal Title Ten family planning funds. [In November, President Bush vetoes a $205 billion health and human services appropriations bill because it includes a provision that would have blocked enforcement of the pro-life regulations; the veto is sustained by a 12-vote margin.] June 3: In a letter to House Speaker Thomas Foley, President Bush vows, any legislation that weakens current law or existing regulations” pertaining to abortion will be vetoed. June 18: The Louisiana legislature overrides Gov. Buddy Romer’s veto of a law protecting unborn children from abortion in all cases other than when the life of the mother is at stake or in cases of rape or incest. (See also Mar. 8, 1993.) July 1: President Bush nominates pro-life Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Thomas is confirmed to the Supreme Court by a Senate vote of 52-48. Oct. 25: Ana Rosa Rodriguez survives a third-trimester abortion attempt by New York City abortionist Abu Hayat, but is born with one arm severed at the shoulder. (See also Feb. 22, 1993.) Nov.: Threat of Bush veto maintains the Reagan-era ban on the performance of abortion on U.S. military bases, except to save the mother’s life.
Feb.: “Bush Administration threatens to veto legislation that would require federal funding of research that encourages or depends on abortion”. Mar. 5: The Freedom of Choice act is not accepted by President Bush. He states “[it] will not become law as long as I am President of the United States.” June 29: Roe v. Wade is modified in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. U.S. Supreme Court discarded the trimester scheme while still upholding certain restrictions on abortion. Additionally, an “undue burden” test of abortion laws have been adopted requiring “opponents of an abortion regulation to prove the provision would create an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to abortion in order for it to be declared unconstitutional.” July 13: “The U.S. House sustain[ed] President Bush’s veto of a bill to require federal funding for transplanting tissue taken from aborted babies by a narrow 14-vote margin.” Sept. 13: Abortionist Martin Haskell introduces people to “partial-birth abortion” at a National Abortion Foundation seminar. This is a late-term abortion methods performed with the "dilation and evacuation.” Nov. 3: Pro-abortionists Governor Bill Clinton and Senator Al Gore win the election.. More positive, pro-abortion steps could be taken these next few years. (Abortion History Timeline)
Jan. 22: Years of pro-life progress are reversed by President Clinton through issuing five executive orders. These issues include: 1) “reversing Title 10 regulations banning abortion referral by federal employees,” 2) “repealing the Mexico City Policy restricting federal funding of international organizations that work to reverse countries’ abortion laws,” 3) “negating the ban on funding for fetal tissue transplants,” 4) “ordering military hospitals to perform abortions,” and 5) “asking the FDA to “review” the import ban on RU 486.” Feb. 22: “Abortionist Abu Hayat is convicted of assault and illegal abortion for his attempt to kill Ana Rosa Rodriguez by abortion.” Mar. 8: Louisiana’s Protective Abortion Law is struck down after the U.S. Supreme Court refuses the lower court’s appeal. Apr. 14: News of possible abortion coverage in the Clinton’s healthcare plan. May 12: Regardless of the executive order given by President Clinton the staff at the Navy, Air Force, and U.S. Army European hospitals are unwilling to perform abortions. June 30: Hyde Amendment is renewed by the U.S. House Freedom of Choice Act is defeated. This act was “a proposed federal statute to invalidate even the narrow types of state abortion regulations permitted by the Supreme Court.” Aug.: Rachelle Shelley Shannon served 11 years in prison after shooting Dr. George Tiller in the arm as he was leaving a Wichita (Kansas) clinic. Nov. 22: “The Clinton Administration announces that the International Planned Parenthood Federation will receive $75 million over the next five years.” Dec. 28: The Medicaid director of every state received a letter from the Clinton Administration. The letter orders state laws to change so that payments for abortions due to rape or incent are covered Dr. David Gunn is shot by Michael Griffin, abortion protestor, outside of a Pensacola (Florida) clinic. Griffin serves life in prison. (Abortion History Timeline)
Jan.: Non-physicians are beginning to be trained to perform abortions. The first national doctors organization to endorse this is The American Council of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Executive Board. Sept. 26: The Clinton Health Care Plan ends up not being introduced in the U.S. Senate. This plan would have forced a national health system upon all Americans, but would also “ration lifesaving care and pay for abortion on demand.” (Abortion History Timeline)
Aug. 22: “Abortionist David Benjamin is convicted of second-degree murder in the botched-abortion death of Guadalupe Negron. He is the first New York abortionist to be convicted of murder.” Nov. 1: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is passed by the U.S. House. Since Roe v. Wade, this is the first federal bill to ban one type of abortion. Dec. 7: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is now passed by the U.S. Senate as well. (Abortion History Timeline)
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