“An abortionist city”: maternal mortality, abortion, and birth control in Sheffield, 1920–1940

Abstract

In May 1935, the National Council for Women held a conference on health in Sheffield. At the time, concern about rising rates of maternal mortality was at its height nationally. Many of the delegates to the conference commented on the particularly poor situation in Sheffield, which had one of the highest maternal mortality rates (MMR) in the country.' Councillor Asbury, the long-standing Labour Chair of the Council's Health Committee, rose to defend his Council against the charge that not enough was being done to tackle the problem. He agreed that "The one black spot is maternal mortality."2 However, he turned the issue round by explaining that: Unless [we] can make some headway in the direction of reducing the number of sepsis deaths arising from abortion, over which the local authority [has] no control, the maternal mortality rate must inevitably remain high ... Even if it should result in Sheffield being regarded as an abortionist City, we intend to focus public attention on this grave problem and shall continue to do so until this foul thing disappears from our midst.3

Fatal complications of illegal abortions performed in 1920–1939 based on the archival material of the Department of Forensic Medicine in Krakow

“…W latach 30 XX w. w Wielkiej Brytanii, Niemczech i Polsce zauważono wzrost liczby wykonywanych niezgodnie z prawem aborcji oraz wynikających z nich komplikacji [9,10]. Liga Narodów przyznała, że umieralność z powodu nielegalnego przerwania ciąży staje się istotniejszym problemem niż śmiertelność w trakcie porodu przebiegającym we właściwym terminie [10].…”

“…W Anglii do wywołania poronienia wykorzystywano przede wszystkim metody instrumentalne: stosowano strzykawki, w szczególności strzykawkę Higgisona, i korę wiązu czerwonego [9]. W Polsce, jak wynika z przeprowadzonych przez nas badań, najczęstszym zdefiniowanym sposobem spędzenia płodu była także mechaniczna manipulacja przedmiotem umieszczanym w drogach rodnych (19 na 101 przypadków).…”

Abortion and gender relationships in Ukraine, 1955–1970

“…Previous research has emphasized the popularity of abortion practices in societies where strong patriarchal gender regimes prevail (Browner, 2000;McIntosh, 2000;Paxson, 2002;Szreter, 2002) as abortion is a convenient way to limit family size and at the same time does not challenge "'proper' gender roles" (Drezgić, 2010, p. 203). Some scholars, however, find that in some societies women seek abortion as they use it as their power to resist men's authority and thus make their own decisions (Cook, 2000;Mackinnon, 2010).…”

“…Within the strictly patriarchal set of gender roles, abortion provided a means of post-coital family limitation that could be practiced without involving the husband, which made it a convenient way (if not the only way) of eliminating an unwanted pregnancy without risking spousal conflict. This method may thus abet a traditional patriarchal gender order (Paxson, 2002), and scholars often associate high abortion rates with a low level of female autonomy within the marriage (Browner, 2000;McIntosh, 2000;Szreter, 2002), though some (Cook, 2000;Mackinnon, 2010), contend that it can also indicate women's power over male pronatalism. It is therefore not yet clear how regional patriarchies can influence women's agency in abortion decisions, especially in societies where abortion rates are high.…”

“…Many scholars have addressed the relationships between patriarchal gender regimes and women's reproductive activities. Some argue that within a patriarchal context women have little possibility to exercise reproductive choice, and therefore abortion often becomes the only option (Browner, 2000;McIntosh, 2000). Others argue that women practice abortion to exercise their reproductive freedoms (Cook, 2000;Mackinnon, 2010).…”