HST 222 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Premarital Sex, Double Standard, Dying Declaration
Document Summary
1950s to 1973 unwanted pregnancies, most not prosecuted but suffered awful medical procedures doctors wanted to shield their identities, dying women pointed them out single women pressured to reveal lovers, male partners often arrested, jailed, prosecuted. Regulating abortion use on working class women. Without doc coop, little could be done for criminal abortion laws. State punished working class women for abortions, not arrested thru public exposure. Humiliating interrogations by male officials at womens deathbeds. States interest of working class men to marry women they impregnate. Double standard still prevalent, men penalized with arresting, jailing. Working class women"s poverty made them reach official attention for having abortions. Poor women seeking medical attention come into attention of and prosecution officials. Affluent women had own private physicians (destroying statements: some could be bribed with 27509 to keep quiet about an abortion related death. Concentration on cases with a victim a woman dying at the hands of a criminal abortionist.
