Abortion & the Reformation: Women, Witchcraft, & Repression

Mary Fissell, Professor, Department of the History of Medicine, with appointments in the History of Science and the History Departments, Johns Hopkins University

The Protestant and Catholic Reformations of the sixteenth century prompted increased restrictions on abortion. While we associate anti-abortion politics with the Catholic Church today, Protestant reformers were eager to reform gender relations, including abortion access. They created legislation that criminalized abortion in new ways. At the same time, witchcraft prosecutions sometimes linked abortion and sorcery.

Organized by the Human Context of Science and Technology Program.

Co-sponsored by American Studies; Gender, Women's, + Sexuality Studies; History; Sociology, Anthropology, & Public Health; & the Dresher Center for the Humanities