Michael Phillips

They took hot baths or rode horses bareback in order to cause a miscarriage.

They took hot baths or rode horses bareback in order to cause a miscarriage.

They took hot baths or rode horses bareback in order to cause a miscarriage.

A dramatic shift happened after the 1847 founding of the American Medical Association. Established by men, the organization began lobbying states to ban abortions in an attempt to discredit midwives, who represented major competition for female patients. Medical journalists began to dismiss midwives and male doctors who provided abortion services as dangerous, ill-informed quacks.

A dramatic shift happened after the 1847 founding of the American Medical Association. Established by men, the organization began lobbying states to ban abortions in an attempt to discredit midwives, who represented major competition for female patients. Medical journalists began to dismiss midwives and male doctors who provided abortion services as dangerous, ill-informed quacks.

A dramatic shift happened after the 1847 founding of the American Medical Association. Established by men, the organization began lobbying states to ban abortions in an attempt to discredit midwives, who represented major competition for female patients. Medical journalists began to dismiss midwives and male doctors who provided abortion services as dangerous, ill-informed quacks.

AMA members were still unaware that germs existed, and they didn't clean their hands or equipment when examining wounds or during surgeries, thus causing many of their patients to die of sepsis. So-called regular doctors often use dangerous treatments such as bleeding to treat illnesses.

AMA members were still unaware that germs existed, and they didn't clean their hands or equipment when examining wounds or during surgeries, thus causing many of their patients to die of sepsis. So-called regular doctors often use dangerous treatments such as bleeding to treat illnesses.

AMA members were still unaware that germs existed, and they didn't clean their hands or equipment when examining wounds or during surgeries, thus causing many of their patients to die of sepsis. So-called regular doctors often use dangerous treatments such as bleeding to treat illnesses.

Yet, in spite of their high body count, AMA members persuaded major press outlets, such as the New York Times, to sensationally cover cases in which women died during abortions performed by midwives. This created momentum for the enactment by 1880 of laws banning and criminalizing abortion in every single state except Kentucky, where state courts had already rendered such procedures illegal.

Yet, in spite of their high body count, AMA members persuaded major press outlets, such as the New York Times, to sensationally cover cases in which women died during abortions performed by midwives. This created momentum for the enactment by 1880 of laws banning and criminalizing abortion in every single state except Kentucky, where state courts had already rendered such procedures illegal.

Yet, in spite of their high body count, AMA members persuaded major press outlets, such as the New York Times, to sensationally cover cases in which women died during abortions performed by midwives. This created momentum for the enactment by 1880 of laws banning and criminalizing abortion in every single state except Kentucky, where state courts had already rendered such procedures illegal.

In the 1880s, Texas was still seen by much of the country as an unsophisticated frontier, but was home to a highly influential doctor with a national following, Ferdinand Eugene Daniel, who became editor of the Texas Medical Journal.

In the 1880s, Texas was still seen by much of the country as an unsophisticated frontier, but was home to a highly influential doctor with a national following, Ferdinand Eugene Daniel, who became editor of the Texas Medical Journal.

In the 1880s, Texas was still seen by much of the country as an unsophisticated frontier, but was home to a highly influential doctor with a national following, Ferdinand Eugene Daniel, who became editor of the Texas Medical Journal.

A eugenicist with a national audience, the surgeon had served in the Confederate Army and argued that masturbation and homosexuality were dangerous indications that an individual came from a family line that had not fully evolved or was biologically regressing. Fully evolved individuals, he believed, had less of a sex drive and kept their minds on intellectual pursuits.

A eugenicist with a national audience, the surgeon had served in the Confederate Army and argued that masturbation and homosexuality were dangerous indications that an individual came from a family line that had not fully evolved or was biologically regressing. Fully evolved individuals, he believed, had less of a sex drive and kept their minds on intellectual pursuits.

A eugenicist with a national audience, the surgeon had served in the Confederate Army and argued that masturbation and homosexuality were dangerous indications that an individual came from a family line that had not fully evolved or was biologically regressing. Fully evolved individuals, he believed, had less of a sex drive and kept their minds on intellectual pursuits.

Daniel argued that before the Civil War, Americans had endangered their future by bringing Africans into the country as slaves and were compounding the error by allowing what he called, quote, the dregs of Europe, Jews, Greeks, Italians, and others to immigrate to the United States.

Daniel argued that before the Civil War, Americans had endangered their future by bringing Africans into the country as slaves and were compounding the error by allowing what he called, quote, the dregs of Europe, Jews, Greeks, Italians, and others to immigrate to the United States.