A 19th-century Boston physician’s efforts to reduce abortions

This is a continued series of blog entries on important historical events that began in Boston and led to strict laws against abortion throughout the U.S. (Read Part I here) Most of these laws remained until overturned by the Supreme Court's in 1973. For a century they reduced abortions and the babies who survived typically grew up, married, and in many cases became our direct ancestors. Readers probably will be surprised to learn that induced abortion was common in the U.S. in the middle of th

This is a continued series of blog entries on important historical events that began in Boston and led to strict laws against abortion throughout the U.S. (Read Part I here) Most of these laws remained until overturned by the Supreme Court's in 1973. For a century they reduced abortions and the babies who survived typically grew up, married, and in many cases became our direct ancestors. Readers probably will be surprised to learn that induced abortion was common in the U.S. in the middle of th…