Our bias toward the present comes through in how we think about controversial issues. Some people talk as if the history of abortion began on January 22, 1973, with the infamous Roe v. Wade decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. And they imagine the problem ended on June 24, 2022, when the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision was published. That perspective is myopic and unhelpful.
The Story of Abortion in America: A Street-Level History 1652–2022 explores a broader history of abortion in what has become the United States. The book documents actions, court records, reports, and articles from a 370-year timespan. This is an excellent remedy to our historical nearsightedness.
The book was coauthored by two experienced journalists: Marvin Olasky, former editor in chief of WORLD and senior fellow of the Discovery Institute; and Leah Savas, who writes for WORLD on pro-life topics.
Olasky and Savas go head to head with many popular notions regarding the history of abortion in the United States. They clarify the often murky motives, presuppositions, and intentions on all sides with a liberal supply of documentation and testimony from those engaged in the debate.
The Story of Abortion in America: A Street-Level History, 1652–2022
Marvin Olasky and Leah Savas
The Story of Abortion in America: A Street-Level History, 1652–2022
Marvin Olasky and Leah Savas
The Story of Abortion in America traces the long cultural history of this pressing issue from 1652 to today, focusing on the street-level activities of those drawn into the battles willingly or unwillingly. Authors Marvin Olasky and Leah Savas show complex lives on both sides: Some sacrificed much to help the poor and others sacrificed the helpless to empower themselves. The Story of Abortion in America argues that whatever happens legally won’t end the debate, but it will affect lives.
Rich Social Research
There’s no value-neutral retelling of history, as Robert George notes in the foreword of this book. And yet sometimes the mounting weight of evidence makes certain conclusions seem inevitable. When there are enough facts that all point in the same direction, an investigator need not try to tip the scales.
The Story of Abortion in America is heavily documented from firsthand sources and verified records. Rather than relying on statistical data, it offers a window into how the person on the street viewed abortion and the ways and places in which this perspective shifted. The authors show how the street-level view was often at odds with what they call the “suite-level” outlook: those detached, academic, clinical assessments.
The street-level view is evidenced in the early female doctors who worked woman-to-woman and couldn’t help but promote the recognition that the creature in the mother’s womb was a human. This included Elizabeth Blackwell, who was the first American female to receive a medical degree, as well as many others like Anna Densmore French, Rachel Gleason, Alice Bunker Stockham, and Prudence Saur.
The suite-level standpoint shows up with Justice Blackmun, who was assigned the task of writing the majority opinion on Roe v. Wade. He did so holed up in the Mayo Library reviewing academic resources but never visited any facilities where abortions were performed. The result was an idyllic view of how abortion functions. He assumed that attending physician would employ principled medical judgments for the well-being of a single patient. The street-level view and the suite-level outlook were frequently worlds apart.
How Many Patients?
Tracing the idea that abortion involves two patients provides a key that unlocks the evolving abortion discussion. In the early centuries of the debate, the overwhelming perspective was that there were, indeed, two patients. Moreover, the entity within the womb was thought to deserve legal protection. The language of two patients provides a convenient gauge throughout the work, as media reports and personal accounts are evaluated.
In early centuries of the debate, the overwhelming perspective was that there were, indeed, two patients involved.
Early in the 19th century, Hugh Hodge, older brother of theologian Charles Hodge, rejected the idea that “quickening”––the point at which the mother can feel a baby’s movement in the womb––marks the beginning of life. Instead, he argued, “There can be no reasonable doubt that human existence . . . commences not with the birth of the foetus and the first inspiration, but at conception” (99).
Time has passed but many of the arguments about abortion have altered little. The major changes in the debate have come largely because of cultural trends.
Social Changes
As with any social issue, there were complex forces at play in shifting popular opinion on abortion. Increasing tolerance of prostitution changed perspectives. So did the process of urbanization, as people abandoned their rural communities for the anonymity of cities.
In crowded cities, young women became more vulnerable and young men less restrained. The move toward accepting abortion gathered steam with the growing demand in the 19th century, which was met by a growing number of suppliers of abortion. As “demand continued, so did supply, and so did lack of enforcement” of the existing abortion laws (116).
The social drift became even more pronounced with the transition from primitive abortion procedures of powders, pills, and “mechanical means” to the more sanitized practices that began toward the end of the 19th century (102).
Political and Religious Shifts
As society came to accept, or at least ignore, abortion, political parties and candidates began to change their stances. Many went from arguing for abortion law enforcement to supporting fewer restrictions.
Social changes also affected religious perspectives. What had been a pro-life consensus among Christian churches crumbled, with some denominations approving of abortion.
Abortion advocates used a divide-and-conquer approach to shift Christian perspectives. They began by targeting the hierarchy of Roman Catholicism, labeling it the enemy of women. This tactic was particularly effective in changing both mainline and evangelical Protestant perspectives on abortion in the mid-20th century.
Some denominations, like the Southern Baptist Convention, attempted to carve out a middle ground on the issue. And yet major figures within evangelicalism, such as Carl F. H. Henry, were also on the record in surprising support for legalized abortion. Thankfully, a deeper understanding shifted most evangelicals toward pro-life positions.
Holistic Pro-Life Efforts
This book also recounts heroic efforts that started after the Civil War. Pro-life workers sought to decrease the demand for abortions by giving young pregnant women safety, meeting their needs on a personal basis.
One striking example of this pro-life support was the Erring Woman’s Refuge, an organization in Chicago that foreshadowed the modern crisis pregnancy center. They offered physical, social, and spiritual assistance to women who were “animated by a wish to reform, and who need friends to help them through the struggle” (212).
Modern ears may object to the organization’s name, but the goal was the sort of holistic assistance that many critics of the pro-life position demand. These stories have many layers, as they’re told by Olasky and Savas, deepening our understanding of the lengthy history of the pro-life movement.
Potent History
There’s a cultural myth that reality leans toward the left. Through their exhaustive research, Olasky and Savas dispel that myth with regard to abortion. The weight of reality—the intuitive recognition that a child in the womb deserves protection—comes through in the history of the American abortion debate.
Pro-life workers sought to decrease the demand for abortions by giving young pregnant women safety.
Abortion advocates sometimes depict their perspective as the default understanding in the Land of the Free. However, by using the words of ordinary Americans, this book shows the consensus used to weigh more heavily in favor of preborn humans.
The authors present the data fairly. They cite advocates of abortion, such as Hugh Hodges’s opponent Alexander Draper, who wrote an extensive “how to” manual on abortion, advocating for women to have the procedure performed by trained surgeons.
This book is a history, not propaganda. Though the authors have a clear viewpoint, they tell the story well and honestly. This book is invaluable for readers inside and outside the church because it candidly portrays the history of a debate that has often been reduced to ad hominem insults and sound bites. The Story of Abortion in America provides a measured alternative to both.
