When Abortion Was a Crime

"Essential."--New York Times "A first-rate exposition of the changing cultural and legal climate regarding abortion in America."--Washington Post "For those who take abortion for granted, Reagan's work is an eye-opener."--Publishers Weekly "This book is one of the most important books I have ever read. It has shaped my thinking about abortion and many other things in deep ways."--Katha Pollitt, contributor, The Nation "Exploiting legal as well as medical records, Reagan has retrieved the history of women who struggled for reproductive autonomy and provides our best account of how the practice and policing of abortion evolved in relation to medicine, the state, and the condition of women. [This] is a major contribution to social history."--James W. Reed, Rutgers University "This is a fascinating book--energetic, even urgent in its narrative. It is based on entirely new material, making ingenious and enlightening use of criminal trials, inquests, and newspaper accounts. Both creative and painstaking in her research, Reagan persuasively establishes historical patterns in the availability of assisted abortion and documents a striking antiabortion backlash in the 1940-50s. In addition to the book's value for scholars, it will undoubtedly be valuable to feminists, lawyers, doctors, and others interested in the conditions of abortion today."--Nancy Cott, Yale University