1820's -- First laws related to abortion passed. Laws were poison
control laws, passed to protect women from accidentally killing themselves.
1839 With the vulcanization
of rubber by Goodyear, rubber condoms become available for use.
1842 Oliver Wendell
Holmes in "The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever" calls for obstetricians
to wash hands and use sterile procedures, thus radically reducing maternal
death rates
1847 Dr. James Simpson
of Edinburgh is the first to use chloroform to relieve the pain of childbirth.
Dr. Walter Channing of Boston first uses ether in the next year. The use
of these anesthetics was protested by many people who thought of birth pain
as a religious curse upon women. It was also thought that such pain induced
motherly love.
18967 -- beginning of state statutes being passed making abortion illegal.
1873 !Anthony Comstock,
secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, starts serious
enforcement of laws preventing sending of any Aobscene@ material through
the mail
1910's Emma Goldman
begins to speak out on the necessity of effective birth control
Condoms, douching, and
withdrawal only methods available
1915 Dutch invent diaphragm
and begin public health use
1917 First birth control
clinic opened. M. Sanger arrested for operating clinic under Comstock Law;
serves 30 days. Clinic re-opened, able to disperse info only to women who
were "diseased" ie., for whom pregnancy wold be dangerous or fatal. Illegal
to import diaphragms.
1920 M. Sanger's book,
Women and the New Race published
1921 !he first American
Birth Control Conference is held in New York City; Sanger and Mary Winsor
are arrested for attempting to address a mass meeting on birth control
1924 First precise identification
of female fertile period made.( Rhythm method used in 19th and early 20th
century worse than useless b/c it assumed mammalian model-- that women were
most fertile around the time of menstruation, so counseled intercourse in
middle of cycle.)
1925 The first U.S.
manufacture of diaphragms is financed by J. Noah Slee, Margaret Sanger's
second husband.
1936
Ban on importing contraceptive devices lifted by SupCourt: U.S. v. One
Package of Japanese Pessaries
1937 Dr.'s can legally
provide birth control info to married couples
The American Medical
Association officially recognizes birth control as an integral part of medical
practice and education.
North Carolina becomes
the first state to recognize birth control as a public health measure and
to provide contraceptive services to indigent mothers through its public
health program.
1942 M. Sanger's Birth
Control Federation of America becomes Planned Parenthood, with new agenda
to emphasize family stability rather than individual freedom; 218 clinics
operating
1940-45 Millions of
servicemen instructed in contraception to prevent STD's.
1960
Birth Control Pill approved for marketing
1962 The First International
Conference on IUDs began commercial production of ancient devices
1965 Griswold vs.
Conn. struck down by SupCt; rt to privacy assures married couples access
to contraception
1966 Masters and Johnson
publish Human Sexual Response; debunk myth of vaginal orgasm
Lawrence L's book on
abortion estimates approximately 1 million illegal abortions with 5,000-10,000
deaths annually in U.S.
1967 Colorado 1st state
to liberalize abortion -- rape, incest, mo's health, or defective child;
NC & CA follow
1969 NARAL founded at
1st national conference on abortion lawsCanada legalizes abortion and homosexuality
Death rate from carrying
a pregnancy to term is 10X greater than clinical abortion
1970 Barbara Seaman,
The Doctor's Case Against the Pill published
Mass. law against
sale of birth control to unmarried struck down, makes dispensing of contraceptives
on campuses possible, though still infrequent
1971 Boston Women's
Health Collective, Our Bodies Ourselves: A Course by & for Women
1973 Roe V. Wade
invalidates state laws against abortion in 1st trimester on grounds of right
to privacy
1975 Public Health Service
Act funds family planning services to low-income patients
1976 The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that states cannot require a woman seeking an abortion to get
consent from her husband or force all single girls under 18 desiring an abortion
to get permission from a parent.
1980
Harris V. McRae: rt. to privacy
does not include funding for medically necessary abortions for poor
1981 President Reagan
endorses the Human Life Amendment (HLA), a constitutional amendment which
would ban abortion, the IUD, and some forms of the birth control pill.
1983 Department of Health
and Human Services barred from implementing the "squeal rule" requiring government
funded clinics to notify parents when teenagers seek prescription contraceptives
1985 Most manufacturers
take IUD's off market b/c use of untested models, especially Dalkon Shield,
have caused injuries, infections, and even deaths and so created climate for
litigation.
1988 France became the
first Western nation to approve the use of RU-486, the abortion pill.
"Operation Rescue," organized
by Randall E. Terry to blockade access to abortion clinics
1989 The U.S. Supreme
Court, in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, upheld a Missouri
statute that said that human life began at conception, barred the use of
public funds for abortion, prohibited abortions at public health facilities
and required physicians to test for fetal viability after the 19th week of
pregnancy.
President George
Bush vetoed a bill approved by the U.S. House and Senate that would permit
the use of Medicaid funds to pay for abortions for poor women who were victims
of "promptly reported" rape or incest
A Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) advisory committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of Norplant,
a long-acting contraceptive that protects a woman from pregnancy for up to
five years when implanted under the skin.
Governor Robert Casey
of Pennsylvania signed a package of anti-choice legislation, including a
24-hour waiting period for abortions, spousal notification, and a ban on
abortions performed after the 24th week of pregnancy.
1990 In Hodgson v.
Minnesota, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision ruled that states
may require that pregnant teenage girls either notify both biological parents
before having an abortion or seek a judicial authorization through "judicial
bypass."
A study by the Institute
of Medicine reported that the United States had fallen significantly behind
other countries in developing new methods of birth control. Approximately
750,000 of the abortions performed annually in this country resulted from
contraceptive failure
1991 !The U.S. Supreme
Court in Rust v. Sullivan upholds a "gag rule," barring clinics from
counseling women on abortion, even if the continued pregnancy threatened
a woman's life or health.
Governor Norm Bangerter
of Utah signed into law the nation's most restrictive abortion legislation.
The law stated that all abortions were illegal and made exceptions during
the first 20 weeks only for the mother's life, grave damage to the mother's
medical health, grave fetal defects, and rape or incest.
1992 In Planned Parenthood
of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, the Supreme Court reaffirmed what
it called the "essential holdings" of Roe that women have a constitutional
right to choose abortion prior to fetal viability, but declared that states
also have a "compelling" interest in potential human life throughout pregnancy
and upheld a series of restrictions.
Access to legal abortions
steadily declining; 84% of U.S. counties have no abortion provider.
1993 President Clinton
issues an executive order instructing the FDA "assess initiatives... [that
can] promote the testing, licensing, and manufacturing of RU486." Also lifts
gag rule for federally funded clinics.
1994 Freedom of Access
to Clinic Entrances Act passed, protecting reproductive health service facilities
and their staff and patients from violent threats, assault, vandalism, and
blockade.
