Who owns a woman’s womb? The very underpinning of such a question seems odd. We would not ask who owns a woman’s brain, arm, or heart, and we certainly would not ask about the ownership of men’s organs and appendages. Is a woman’s reproductive system collectively owned? The answer to the question has varied widely throughout history. But consistently, through time, two things seem to be of paramount consideration – money and fear. When women’s reproductive capacities are required for economic reasons, i.e., to create workers, or white women are negligent in the proliferation of the white race, thus allowing “others” to become more prevalent in society, restrictions on women’s liberties follow. Loss of economic and political power are the foundational reasons for regulating women’s reproductive health, with morality, religion, and “concern for women’s well-being” layered on top to disguise the stench.
Early understanding of women’s gynecological processes relied on the notions of ancient “learned and philosophical” men. Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian civilizations believed that the creation of life rested entirely with the male, which he “gave” to the woman – she was merely the incubator. As prescribed in a second-millennium B.C.E. incantation, “My father begot me, my mother bore me.” Within these groups, infanticide or “exposure” did not exist – perhaps because of the male ownership of the process. And yet, from Egypt is where we find the first written evidence of abortion. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical text from around 1550 B.C.E., describes herbal drinks and vaginal suppositories to induce abortion.
However, Ancient Greek and Roman societies frequently practiced infanticide of female infants and children with disabilities. Even with the difficulty in ascertaining the rate of infanticide in ancient civilizations, some scholars maintain that a rate of 20% among female infants is reasonable. The perpetual imbalanced ratio between males and females in Greek and Roman societies can be attributed not just to wars but to the practice of female infanticide. Around the late 5th and early 4th century B.C.E., unknown medical healers begin documenting medical practices. These collected writings became known as the “Hippocratic Corpus.” Contraceptive techniques such as withdrawal and douching are discussed, and remedies are listed for “dislodging retained menses.” Contraceptive use and abortion are seldom distinguished from one another, and both were practiced within Greek and Roman cultures.
The regulation of contraception and abortion before the 4th century C.E. was periodically attempted, but it tended to sputter and die due to the complications of enforcing such laws. And when it was enforced, it was generally recognized as a property offense against a man. However, these regulations escalated prolifically around the 4th century C.E. with the establishment of Christianity as a state religion in much of current-day Europe. The compilation of the Church’s sexual canons into the Penitential (a book used by priests listing sins and the required penance for the sin) is the first serious attempt by the Roman Catholic Church to restrict and control sexual behavior. Silvia Federici describes it, “These works demonstrate that the church attempted to impose a true sexual catechism, minutely prescribing the positions permitted during intercourse (actually only one is allowed), the days on which sex could be practiced, with whom it was permissible, and with whom forbidden.” The focus on sexual activity continues with the Lateran Councils in 1123 C.E., 1139 C.E., and 1179 C.E., with further clarification on clerical marriage, concubinage, sacrament of marriage, sodomy, non-procreative sex, and homosexuality. And, of course, abortion and contraceptives are targeted as well. Below is a flowchart showing the difficulty in making sexual decisions!
However, depending on the particular parish, churches in the Middle Ages could have been somewhat lax in enforcing these sexual codes. For example, in discussing abortion, Burchard, the Bishop of Worms, wrote in 1010 C.E. that “it makes a big difference whether she is a poor little woman and acted on account of the difficulty in feeding, or whether she acted to conceal a crime of fornication.” During this time, midwives provided both education and needed supplies for contraceptive use, as well as herbal remedies to bring on menses. While the church continued to advocate against abortion and contraceptive use, it was seldom enforced. Eleanor Janega, in her book The Once and Future Sex, maintains that if midwives kept their “abortion services quiet,” they could generally remain on the “right side of the law.”
But there are times when women's reproductive capacity is essential, and the church was willing to enforce abortion and contraceptive regulation during those periods. We see extensive enforcement during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Following the Black Death (primarily 1347-1352 C.E.), when approximately 30% of the European population was decimated – requiring women to reproduce for economic reasons, the intensity of inquisitors' investigations into heresy intensified with allegations leaning heavier into witchcraft – such as animal worship, orgiastic rituals, night flights, and child sacrifice. By the beginning of the 15th century, the focus had evolved to be almost exclusively on the witch rather than the heretic. This shift from hunting heretics to hunting witches pinpointed a target on the backs of women. And yes, men were accused of witchcraft, but in Europe, 80% of accusations were against women, and 85% of those convicted were women. Conveniently, these women were often financially independent and post-menopausal age, thus not themselves procreating additional community members but in possession of estates that would revert to the church if they were convicted of witchcraft.
The ebb and flow of the church and states’ prosecution of women for witchcraft throughout the Early Modern Period aligns with times when societal pressures were mounting for women to have more children. The church, thus, needed to eliminate those in society that provided birth control and abortion access. These alignments happened following the Black Death, severe labor shortages in the late 14th century, peasant uprisings in the late 14th and early 15th century, famine years 1540-1550 C.E., food revolts in the 16th century, and the slowing of marriage and childbearing rates in late 16th century into mid- 17th century—all periods with peak witchcraft trials. As Federici writes, “The main initiative that the state took to restore the desired population ratio was the launching of a true war against women clearly aimed at breaking the control they had exercised over their bodies and reproduction… this war was waged primarily through the witch-hunt that literally demonized any form of birth-control and non-procreative sexuality, while charging women with sacrificing children to the devil.” The tactics employed to ensure that women were not using birth control or aborting echo techniques that have been resurrected today: requirements that women register pregnancies with the state, women prosecuted when miscarriages happened, the use of spies to report women, turning midwives into spies to protect themselves, and punishing anyone that assisted a woman pregnant out of wedlock.
While women were still being executed for infanticide at the end of the 18th century, in Europe and the U.S., by late in the 18th century and into the 19th century, women were once again relying on midwives and their knowledge to provide both contraceptives and potions to return menses. Open season on women had closed for a short time.
However, by the mid-19th century, two factors would collide to bring women and reproduction back to the forefront: the financial impact that successful midwives were having on newly educated male physicians and the concern of many white males that an influx of immigrants was “diluting” the population – money and fear. Midwives were at the height of their power in the U.S.- but many were determined to bring them down. As Michele Goodwin writes in Policing the Womb, “Ironically, antiabortion laws root not in claims of protecting the sanctity of life, but strangely, in the blocking of women from the practice of medicine and midwifery.”
Dr. Horatio Storer was the architect of this attack on midwives. He envisioned a medical practice void of female practitioners, either midwives or physicians. This component of his campaign was financial. Women were making money from their practices. Perhaps the most famous in New York City was Madame Restell, who left an estate worth $30 million today. Unfortunately, she committed suicide rather than being imprisoned for her work. But Storer was concerned about more than money. He desired to spread “civilization west and south by native-born white Americans, not Mexicans, Chinese, Blacks, Indians, or Catholics. Shall these regions be filled by our own children or by those of aliens? That is the question our women must answer; upon their loins depends the future destiny of the nation.” Fear of replacement from the mid-1800s to today is an ugly underbelly.
Storer found a compatriot in Anthony Comstock. Comstock arrived in New York City in 1867 after serving in the army – where he was not well received. His fundamentalist Christian beliefs created animosity with his peers. He was known to pour his whiskey ration onto the ground rather than allow another soldier to have it. He was disgusted by the pornography that flowed freely in the mail while he was in the army. He kept meticulous journals and notes, often chastising himself for his masturbatory sins. After arriving in the city, he quickly aligned himself with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). His merciless tenacity resulted in the passage of An Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use (now known as the Comstock Act) in 1873. Following the passage of this act, The YMCA founded the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), putting Comstock in charge. They then convinced the New York legislature to make the NYSSV an official organization requiring the police force of NYC to cooperate with Comstock. As a postal inspector and the head of NYSSV, Comstock was doubly empowered. And in a masterful stroke, the law awarded one-half of all fines back to the agency – the original “bounty hunter” law!
With Storer working the AMA and aligning with the Catholic Church to redefine when conception began and Comstock establishing a mechanism to shut down midwives, women’s reproductive freedoms were curtailed for a century. Comstock successfully arrested Victoria Woodhull, Tennessee Claflin, Angela Heywood, Dr. Sara Chase, Emma Goldman, Margaret Sanger, and Ann Lohman (a.k.a. Madame Restell). Women who believed in the ability of all women to control their reproductive processes. Women who believed that men did not have the right to rape their wives. Women who believed that females should enjoy the sexual encounter. Women who believed true freedom started with reproductive freedom.
Much of the Comstock law has been overturned via Supreme Court decisions, but the law has never been removed. While the distribution of pornography is now protected, protection for abortion no longer exists with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Comstock enforcement can begin immediately with a President, the Department of Justice, and the Postal Department willing to enforce the code. Comstock understood that controlling the mail was essential, and he was correct. Enforcement of the Comstock Act would effectively end legal abortion in the U.S. If we believe that these laws will not be enforced, we should remember that two sitting Supreme Court Justices – Alito and Thomas – have both mentioned Comstock and the Heritage Foundation 2025 plan discusses explicitly the use of Comstock to stop abortion. The Supreme Court in Arizona should be our warning; our canary in the coal mine – zombie laws are real.
Money and Fear - the two motivating factors for control of women’s reproductive freedoms. We have seen these two ideas used to justify witch hunts and prosecutions. Today, we see the rise of white nationalism and the great replacement theory – the fear that white people are being replaced. We see white men concerned about professional women and wanting a return to the “trad-wife.” We see legislators wanting to enforce their Christian worldview on all of society. We see groups being “othered” to deny them civil rights. Money and fear are powerful motivators. History is beginning to rhyme.
Remember, our journey is not complete until there are nine.
LeAnn
References and Suggested Reading:
Barstow, Anne Llewellyn. Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Pandora, 1994.
Cooke, Lucy. BITCH: On the Female of the Species. Basic Books, 2022.
Federici, Silvia. Caliban and the Witch. Second, Revised edition, Autonomedia, 2014
Goodwin, Michele. Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood. First paperback edition, Cambridge University Press, 2022.
Hopwood, Nick, et al., editors. Reproduction: Antiquity to the Present Day. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Hunt, Katie. “Abortion Is Ancient History and That Matters Today.” CNN, 23 June 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/health/abortion-is-ancient-history-and-that-matters-today-scn/index.html.
Janega, Eleanor. The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society. First edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
Medieval Penitential Sex Flowchart – The History Blog. 9 Feb. 2010, https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/4696.
Müller, Wolfgang P. The Criminalization of Abortion in the West: Its Origins in Medieval Law. First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, Cornell University Press, 2017.
Museum of Contraception and Abortion - Abortion in Antiquity. https://muvs.org/en/topics/termination-of-pregnancy/abortion-in-antiquity-en/.
Penitential Book | Catholic Church, Confession, Penance | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/penitential-book.
Sohn, Amy. The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age. First edition., Farrar, 2021.
Solinger, Rickie. Pregnancy and Power: A History of Reproductive Politics in the United States. Revised edition, New York University Press, 2019.
Syrett, Nicholas L. The Trials of Madame Restell: Nineteenth-Century America’s Most Infamous Female Physician and the Campaign to Make Abortion a Crime. The New Press, 2023.
Wright, Jennifer. Madame Restell: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Old New York’s Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist. Hachette Books, 2023.