Midwife Means “With Woman”: ‘Call the Midwife’ and the History of Abortion in England

Midwife Means "With Woman": 'Call the Midwife' and the History of Abortion in England

4/4/2019
in History, by Janet Mullany

It’s 1964 and things are changing in Poplar on Call the Midwife.

A dad actually asks to be at the, ah, interesting end of his child’s birth and is firmly put in his place, and more women want to give birth in hospitals. Hemlines are rising as Britain becomes a fashion powerhouse. Yet some things just don’t change. As now, an obsession with royal births rules (and if you really want to know, apparently bets are now at 1:2 that Meghan and Harry’s baby will be a girl, with the top name predicted to be Diana. Yes, British bookies do big business during royal pregnancies). And sadly, not every birth is joyfully anticipated, and many women, particularly poor women in an area like Poplar, have few options for help.

Continued: https://blogs.weta.org/tellyvisions/2019/04/04/midwife-means-woman-call-midwife-and-history-abortion-england


UK – Call the Midwife star Jennifer Kirby reveals abortion storyline will continue in future episodes

Call the Midwife star Jennifer Kirby reveals abortion storyline will continue in future episodes
[This series is on Netflix]

By Eleanor Bley Griffiths
Monday, 14th January 2019

“When you’re there and you’re filming the scenes, it’s always more shocking than you’d think,” says Jennifer Kirby.

She’s talking about the first episode of Call the Midwife series eight, where her character Nurse Valerie Dyer decides to help a desperate woman miscarrying after a backstreet abortion. “I don’t care how this has come about, I’m going to help you, do you hear me?” she says.

Continued: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-14/call-the-midwife-jennifer-kirby-abortion-storyline/


USA – What Back Alley? These Women Say DIY Abortion Can Be Empowering

What Back Alley? These Women Say DIY Abortion Can Be Empowering
The pro-choice movement has portrayed non-clinic abortion as a last resort. But some women are trying to change that image.

Emily Shugerman
01.04.19

The image provokes both fear and fury: a wire coat hanger, spattered with blood, symbolizing the drastic measures women may take when abortion access is limited.

Whoopi Goldberg brandished one on stage at the 2004 March for Women’s Lives, urging the younger generation to remember what their forebears used. Protesters at the 1989 March for Women's Equality carried a giant replica, stained red, through the streets of Washington D.C. like a macabre parade float. And the symbol has been ubiquitous since Donald Trump’s election, popping up at marches, in the pages of glossy magazines, and on this site.

The imagery makes Jill Adams, founder of the Self-Induced Abortion Legal Team, shake her head.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-back-alley-these-women-say-diy-abortion-can-be-empowering?ref=scroll


Australia – Abortion laws that once led to police raids and arrests may be scrapped

Abortion laws that once led to police raids and arrests may be scrapped

By Allyson Horn
Oct 15, 2018

Thirty-three years ago Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen ordered police raids on Queensland's abortion clinics because terminating a pregnancy was illegal.

Those laws have not changed for more than 100 years, but this week MPs will be asked to make abortion legal.

In 1985 police burst through the doors of the Greenslopes Fertility Control Clinic — one of Queensland's only abortion facilities.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-16/abortion-laws-may-be-scrapped-in-queensland/10373646


USA: Banning abortion does not make abortion go away

Banning abortion does not make abortion go away

Robyn Pennacchia
June 30, 2018

Banning abortion does not make abortion go away. Women who have the means to travel, or the desperation to go underground, have always found a way, and their organizing power ultimately made abortion a constitutional right in the United States. Today, women should keep that history in mind as they prepare for the next chapter in this fight.

This week, US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his plans to retire. Kennedy has long been the Court’s swing vote on issues like abortion. If president Donald Trump is able to appoint an anti-choice judge (which he has vowed to do), the cases that established abortion rights, such as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey will face immense challenges, and could potentially be overturned as soon as next year. It’s a terrifying and overwhelming prospect.

Continued: https://qz.com/1318779/abortion-activists-are-ready-for-justice-kennedys-retirement/


Malawi: Gynaecologist Sheds Light On Abortion Law Reform in Malawi

Malawi: Gynaecologist Sheds Light On Abortion Law Reform in Malawi

By Dr Chisali Mhango
May 7, 2018

Renowned Malawian gynaecologist Dr Chisali Mhango sheds light on abortion law history, misconceptions, fears and law reform process in Malawi.

Abortion is a very common universal phenomenon. Since the beginning of recorded history women the world over have terminated unwanted pregnancies. The first recorded evidence of an induced abortion is found in an Egyptian Papyrus dated 1550 BC. Of 213 million pregnancies that occur each year worldwide, 40% are unplanned, of these half end in abortion, and half of those abortions are unsafe, that is 22 million,

Continued: http://allafrica.com/stories/201805070813.html


Ireland’s abortion debates through the years

Ireland's abortion debates through the years

Friday, 27 Apr 2018
By David McCullagh

With four weeks to go until Ireland votes on the referendum on the Eighth Amendment on Friday 25 May, David McCullagh looks back on the contentious debates over Ireland's abortion legislation.

1861
Offences Against the Person Act makes it an offence unlawfully to administer poison or to use an instrument on any woman with intent to procure her miscarriage.

1967
British Abortion Act is passed legalising abortion up to 28 weeks’ gestation.

Continued: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0424/956963-abortion-timeline/


USA – Inez Burns’ Abortion Clinic Was One Of San Francisco’s Worst Kept Secrets

Inez Burns' Abortion Clinic Was One Of San Francisco's Worst Kept Secrets

Podcast: 3:54
Download

April 22, 20187
Chloe Veltman

Inez Burns performed illegal abortions in California in the early 1900s. She was a shrewd real estate entrepreneur, and eventually became the target of a politician who ruined her.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2018/04/22/604702064/inez-burns-abortion-clinic-was-one-of-san-franciscos-worst-kept-secrets


Aborted Fetus And Pill Bottle In 19th Century New York Outhouse Reveal History Of Family Planning

Aborted Fetus And Pill Bottle In 19th Century New York Outhouse Reveal History Of Family Planning

April 20, 2018
Kristina Killgrove , Contributor

The archaeological discovery of presumably aborted fetuses in outhouses in New York along with pill bottles and historical records have led researchers to conclude that many 19th century American women had family-planning concerns similar to those of 21st century women.

Writing in this month's Historical Archaeology journal, archaeologist Andrea Zlotucha Kozub of the Public Archaeology Facility at Binghamton University details her discovery of fetal remains and associated artifacts in two upstate New York domestic outhouses. Although potential aborted fetuses have been previously found in an outhouse associated with a 19th century brothel in Manhattan, Zlotucha Kozub's study is the first to find this sort of evidence from middle-class houses.

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2018/04/20/aborted-fetus-and-pill-bottle-in-19th-century-new-york-outhouse-reveal-history-of-family-planning/#3c1d063c75a1


USA – “Whatever’s your darkest question, you can ask me.”

“Whatever’s your darkest question, you can ask me.”
A secret network of women is working outside the law and the medical establishment to provide safe, cheap home abortions.

March 28, 2018
By Lizzie Presser

On a winter morning, Anna* walked the aisles of an herbal-medicine store, picked up a bottle each of blue cohosh and black cohosh, along with a plastic bag of pennyroyal tea, and drove to the topless bar on the edge of town where she worked. There, she met Jules, another dancer. They performed on a small stage with crystal curtains, the green light of an ATM flashing on their left, until 9 p.m. The women, both in their 20s, then drove to the Motel 6 where Jules lived and entered her dim room on the second floor, which smelled of grape cigars. Anna pulled out the tinctures and tea and explained the plan. She was going to help Jules try to have an abortion.

Continued: https://story.californiasunday.com/abortion-providers