The practice of abortion has been known since ancient times. The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is found on an Egyptian papyrus from 3,570 years ago. An Ancient Assyrian woman 3,100 years ago could be put to death for having an abortion without her husband’s consent. Abortion has been documented in almost every ancient culture studied.
Early cultures used non-surgical techniques such as hard labor, climbing, paddling, weight lifting, or diving to kill the unborn baby. Others used irritating plants, fasting, bloodletting, pouring hot water on the abdomen, and lying on a coconut shell, or sitting over a pot of steam or stewed onions. Other techniques included beating the abdomen and wearing a tight girdle. Otherwise, concoctions of herbs and plants and chemicals known as abortifacients of a wide variety have been used including crushed ants, the saliva of camels, and the tail hairs of black-tailed deer dissolved in the fat of bears. Some of these techniques were highly toxic.
The act of abortion in ancient times, much like today, has been viewed differently over time and in different cultures. In ancient Greece, Stoics regarded the growing baby as like a plant until it breathed air. Aristotle wrote about lawful and unlawful abortion marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive. Hippocrates said not to give a woman any substance which expels the embryo or fetus. The Romans had complex laws which changed over time under which abortion was either accepted or for which there could be punishment, including the death penalty if the abortion caused the woman to die. One Roman jurist wrote that an unborn child should be considered the same as having been born. An early Christian work says “do not murder a child by abortion or kill a new-born infant.”
Anti-abortion statutes began to appear in the US in the 1820’s. Still, it is estimated that 20-25% of all pregnancies in the US ended in abortion in the middle 1800’s. Criminalization accelerated in the 1870’s with passage of the Comstock Law which prohibited advertising contraception and abortion. There is little information on surgical abortions prior to this era because inserting instruments was extremely dangerous, so this did not become common until the late 1800’s.
Still the death rate from surgical abortions was about 30%, and more dangerous than childbirth.
Liberalization of contraception and abortion laws began in the 1920’s with various states having different laws and restrictions on abortion, generally surrounding the issues of rape, incest, and if the mother’s “health” was at risk. The lack of a definition of “health” was problematic in those states. There were increasing conflicts between pro and con abortion groups which accelerated into the 1960’s. In 1973 the US Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that a woman has a right to privacy and that included the right to decide if she wanted an abortion.
Since 1973 there have been over 64 million abortions in the US, both surgical, and increasingly more often in recent years, from taking abortion pills. But, since 1980 the total number of abortions annually has been falling. This is partly due to contraception and the “morning-after” pill, which is available without prescription. However, the increasing number of pregnancy help centers has also provided assistance and alternatives to these mothers.
In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ruled that the people in the individual states have the right to debate issues of how abortion shall be regulated. Many states now have laws that restrict or prohibit abortion, while other states are attempting to be identified as an abortion tourist destination for surgical abortions.
At the same time, more women are obtaining the abortion pills (sometimes without examination and the advice of a doctor) for “self-managed abortions.” Not only has this caused harm to many women, resulting in 500% more emergency department visits over the last few years for complications from taking the pills, but sometimes women have remorse and seek help after taking the first pill. This has given rise to more and more resources to attempt abortion pill reversal.
Pregnancy help centers and other pro-life entities are promoting education to the public about the hazards of various abortion techniques and offering assurance that every kind of help they could possibly need is available to these young mothers.
The battle for the hearts and minds of the public has become fully engaged. The pro-abortion faction has resorted to hate speech, lies, intimidation, and violence, as well as to the development of innovative ways for mothers to get an abortion.
Society is challenged to cure the ills that make women frightened, desperate, alone, and hopeless with only the thought that they cannot be pregnant, that their life is ruined, and that they must abort the baby. Such feelings are virtually impossible to comprehend. In lieu of the expectation that the ills of society will be changed any time soon (if ever), the struggle is to reach these women with real help before they act in their desperation to end the pregnancy.
Ultimately, the battle is also to change the perception of those seeking abortions. That requires more people to view the developing entity in the mother as a person, a human baby in development. That will make abortion unthinkable in the minds of most people. One can hope, in that case, that women thus persuaded will seek the help and solutions that are offered to meet her needs and allow her to choose life for her baby.