Boston’s rich history in the pro-life movement

Thank you NewBostonPost for inviting me to provide a series of entries on important historical events that had their origin in Boston. This blog on Boston's and the nation's first pro-life movement will interest Boston and New England readers for several reasons. One is that the 19th century movement, "The Physicians' Crusade Against Abortion," led to the state laws against abortion that were overturned in 1973 by Roe v. Wade. During the century that these laws were in effect, they saved millions of babies across the U.S. (You may be surprised to learn that abortion was frequent among married Protestant women in the middle of the 19th century.) The additional children born because of the new laws typically married and provided direct ancestors for many of us who are alive today. Boston's and Harvard's Horatio Robinson Storer, M.D., was the major impetus for the physicians' crusade against abortion and the laws that resulted. It can and will be argued that Dr. Storer was one of the most important figures of the 19th century.

Another reason to read this blog is that the pro-life basis of the movement has been intentionally obscured and denied by a number of writers unwilling to accept or admit that it was concern for the unborn that led to passage of the state and territory abortion laws. This was one of the major reasons that Villanova law professor, Joseph W. Dellapenna, wrote his 2006 book, "Dispelling the Myths of Abortion History." Dispelling of such myths is also a major objective of this blog.