The law only controls those that believe that the law is just. That the system the law upholds is meant for the protection of all and not the oppression of some. For most of recorded history, abortions have been a means of escape and self-determination, and have taken place on kitchen counters and back alleys, supported by midwives and complete strangers. It was a common practice felt to be “women’s issues”, unconcerned by men. It is only recently though that those capable of becoming pregnant have not found a sympathetic society to fall back upon when they wish to have autonomy over their bodies. These people now find crowds of strangers spewing visceral hatred over a common medical procedure. Just for reference, not all people who are capable of getting pregnant identify as a women, so I will use the term “people” as an overarching word to include them.
What happened? How did this transition from “women’s issues” to “everyone’s issues” happen?
Power-hungry white male doctors are what happened. Prior to the mid-1800s, abortion was legal and readily available in the US before around 4 or 5 months, or when a fetus begins moving. It was so common that it inspired its own euphemism, “taking the trade”.
By the 1840s, abortion was BOOMING, and this practice scared the boots off the American Medical Association, comprised almost entirely of upper-class white men, who saw the midwives and homeopaths who profited off of abortion as threats to maintaining power over the highly profitable medical trade. It was most defiantly not a coincidence that these midwives and homeopaths were mainly women and people of color, groups that had gained traction in recent movements. If these people were seen as credible medical resources, then they became threats to the power of the AMA. But by attacking a large portion of their profits, abortion, they become less of a threat and stay in the place deemed for them by society.
In order to further suppress the growing women’s rights movement, controlling access to abortion became tantamount. By labeling suffragists as baby-killers, their message became muddled in the fight towards women’s suffrage. Thus began the anti-abortion campaign in the United States. Attacks on abortion began not as concern for the lives of itty bitty babies, but as a strategic act to further control the spread movements across the US and to give more financial power to the white men that just needed more money and power.
Early abortion laws were primarily poison-control laws, which controlled substances that could bring on miscarriage, but they did not outlaw abortion. But by the late-1800s, almost every single state had outlawed abortion or attempted abortion. People who were accused of attempted abortion were forced to testify against their husband/lover and abortion provider in order to get medical care. Testify or die, what a fair legal system.
Laws are not followed by those that believe the law is wrong though, and many still came out in droves to assert control over their bodies. Despite being subjected to heavy fear and shame, people still navigated a heavily complex system of finding an abortion provider. A class divide now turned into a chasm. Upper-class, white people still dealt with the same laws as everyone else but were able to fly out of country/state for abortions, or got what was labeled as “therapeutic abortions”. These abortions were available as loopholes in 44 states, in which these women paid off two doctors who would say that she will kill herself or die if she carries to term, allowing her the opportunity to abort.
Life can suck for the poor in this capitalist society, and so those with a lower income (largely people of color) are left without the resources the wealthy hold in their hands. Still, they soldiered on. Unfortunately, these soldiers died on the battlefield of bodily autonomy in far greater numbers than their counterparts. From inserting a foreign object into the vagina and/or uteruses (hence the infamous coat hanger) to taking herbs that “brought on the menses” to good ‘ol fashioned throwing yourself down the stairs, the actions of these people created a far greater risk of infection and thus death.
This practice of performing self-managed and back-alley abortions occurred thousands of times per year prior to Roe, and still continue to this day. One might think that even though the pleas of many are seemingly incapable of piercing the hearts of lawmakers, that the continuous cycle of history might guide them in the right direction. As I write this, Roe is being prepared to be challenged in the supreme court, towns across Ohio are passing illegal laws outlawing abortion, and planned parenthood clinics are being shut down despite desperate need for them. A bunch of rich, white men want more power, so they outlaw abortion, and all of a sudden people in the 1830s are more progressive than those in 2021. History is a continuous spinning wheel, and no matter how much we move forward, we are still stuck in that continuous motion over and over again. It is building up something, a voting block, support, a movement, that prevents the wheel from moving forward and continuing the cycle that has plagued so many for so long.