U.S. abortion rates before 1940

[fnr]

Well, just to show that I’m not trying to pump the numbers in a biased way, I just found another reference.

REFERENCE: Stix, R.E.; Wiehl, D.G. (1938) Abortion and the Public Health. American Journal of Public Health, May edition. Pages 621-628.

According to one population sample in New York City conducted in 1935-1936, covering 1525 pregnancies in the population as a whole, 2.9% of pregnancies ended in illegal abortion (see Table 1), while 85.4% ended in live birth. That would imply an induced abortion ratio per 1000 live births of 1000 x 2.9 / 85.4 = 34.0. Another survey in New York for 1931-1932 found 2.1% of pregnancies ending in illegal abortion, with 86.7% ending in live birth. That would imply an induced abortion ratio of 26.6. Another study in New York City for 1931-1932 found 3.2% of pregnancies ending in illegal abortion, with 85.0% ending in live birth. That would imply an induced abortion ratio of 37.6 per 1000 live births.

On the other hand, according to CDC’s latest statistics (for 2010), New York City has an abortion ratio (per 1000 live births) of 694. By another calculation,

Looking at one city, New York City, the abortion ratio was about 20 times higher in 2010 than it was in the 1930s.

However, there’s more… A survey in Chicago of white women having at least their second child in 1931-1932 found 2.1% of prior pregnancies ending in illegal abortion, with 86.7% ending in live birth. That would imply an induced abortion ratio of 24.2 per 1000 live births.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, there were 23,840 abortion in Cook County, IL – home to Chicago. There were 72,995 births within the County. That implies that the abortion ratio was 1000 * 23840 / 72995 = 326.6. The ratios do not reflect similar populations, so it’s impossible to compare 1930s Chicago with 2010. Still, we can compare the white Chicago survey with the white non-Hispanic population of the U.S. as a whole. There, the abortion ratio is about 158 for the year 2008. So, the ratios have definitely increased, by about a factor of 6-7.

Birth rates alone could explain a reasonably large fraction of this change, but abortion itself could play a role,

 

[manualman]

One thing to keep in mind in doing such research is that Roe did not spring from nowhere fully formed. It was the culmination of almost 70 years worth of work begun by the Eugenics pioneers (Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and the German National Socialist Party, aka Nazis being the most famous of the eugenicists).

Dr. Bernard Nathanson was one of the leaders of the pro-abortion activist groups that pushed for Roe. Many years later, he repented of his years as an abortionist and also confessed the way in which a vast network of fraud and deception was woven to slowly break down society’s mores against abortion. Making up statistics from thin air was one of the favored tactics. Look him up, his testimony is riveting.

I doubt it was a new tactic in 1970. I wonder how many of your sources are influenced by such chicanery. That there have always been illicit abortions I have no doubt. It’s been part of fallen human nature probably since shortly after Cain murdered Abel.

But the assertion that a million back alley abortions a year was routine before Roe beggers all sense of reason and reality. Roe enabled Planned Parenthood to do to abortion what Henry Ford did to the automobile: mass destruction.

 

[styrgwillidar]

If you read the speeches/writings of the first wave feminists/suffragettes you will find they often refer to the evil of abortion. Citing it as a reason for women to get the vote and more influence in society. (Although since it was already illegal, not sure how getting the vote was supposed to help). However, they saw abortion for what it was- enabling men to use women as sex objects and demeaning to women.

ETA: This will not give you any context in terms of frequency, other than it was prevalent enough to be cited in their works as a concern.

 

[BellsMom]

Moving forward, I think that abortion statistics will become even more inaccurate. With the increasing availability of at home chemical abortions no will need know or have it documented anywhere.

 

[fnr]

Here’s another publication, with the following statistics.
elle.com/life-love/a14570/abortion-in-the-19th-century/

“By some estimates[5], one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in the 1800s. It was perhaps the most common form of birth control, and while dangerous, many women survived it.”

Reference 5 is as follows:
“It is estimated that the abortion rate jumped from one abortion in every 25-35 live births during 1800-1830 to one in every 5-6 live births by 1850. These figures may be a bit high (evidence is still sketchy), but are indicative of a trend. — Timothy Crumrin”

The “Timothy Crumrin” link is dead, but I found this story on the same page to which the link points.
connerprairie.org/Education-Research/Indiana-History-1800-1860/Women-and-the-Law-in-Early-19th-Century
“Women and the Law in Early 19th Century”

This reference is not peer-reviewed, it seems, and doesn’t include any rate information. It does include this text:
“The 1840s was the decade in which abortion was increasingly being used by married women as a means of family limitation, as opposed to previously when it was often a method of avoiding a scandal utilized by unmarried pregnant women. When abortion began to veer too closely to polite society, some may have taken more notice and sought to do something about it.”
*
"Whatever the reasons, Indiana had an “anti-abortion” measure on the books after 1835. It seems to have been a law little regarded and little enforced. It also seems unlikely that it prevented many women who wished an abortion from obtaining one. Chemical or natural agents for producing abortions were readily available if a woman knew where to look – and most knew exactly where to fix their gaze. Mid-wives knew all the secrets; druggists advertised appropriate potions; medical texts provided answers.

To judge the relative importance lawmakers attached to abortion, one need only compare the penalties involved. Assisting in an abortion, or performing a self-abortion, was punishable by a maximum fine of $500.00 and a year in the county jail. Burglary’s penalty was fourteen years in the state prison; murder (analogous in some modern minds with abortion) was a capital offense. Clearly, the state of Indiana did not equate abortion with murder, or even stealing your neighbor’s silver service."*