Dead Endings

A Review of The Story of Abortion in America: A Street-Level History, 1652–2022 by Marvin Olasky & Leah Savas

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health has unleashed a series of uncertainties that we are only beginning to reckon with: competing state laws either limiting or liberalizing abortion, court rulings on abortion pills, and further unknowns lying on the horizon. To navigate this post-Roe world, it helps to understand how we arrived here. What did the average person think about abortion throughout American history, and how was that manifested or obscured in media, social practices, legislation, and its enforcement or lack thereof? And how have such issues been distorted in historical memory?

Marvin Olasky and Leah Savas address these questions and more as they bring history down from the suite level of legalities and law journals to the street level of social history and primary sources. Their excavation clears up common misconceptions about our past and provides readers with a better grasp of the abortion landscape from colonial to contemporary times.

The ABCDEs of Abortion

Their framework centers on five core themes:

Anatomy: Does that creature in the womb have human characteristics?

Bible: Is its teaching on the sacredness of human life binding on us?

Community: What kind of advice and support do vulnerable women receive from boyfriends or husbands, parents and friends, employers or government, or anyone to whom a woman might look for emotional or financial help?

Danger to women: What is the likelihood of an abortion ending with not just one victim but two?

Enforcement: In what informal and formal ways do those with influence and resources protect the most vulnerable?

As the story unfolds, the interplay of these questions is central to the ebb and flow of opinion and policy. Consider the colonial era, where despite minimal knowledge of fetal anatomy, a high view of biblical authority, community taboos, and the real danger posed to women kept abortion largely at bay. Compare that to the second half of the 20th century, where despite extensive understanding of fetal development, a low view of biblical authority, community structures enshrining autonomy, and lowered medical risk contributed to wider acceptance of abortion. The five questions function as an analytical tool, and in each era, one can see how different answers to these questions exert significant impacts.

Debunking Common Misconceptions

Olasky and Savas show that on numerous points, common narratives used to justify abortion are not based in actual history. One of the first sacred cows they bring down is the assumption, present in Roe v. Wade,that in common-law tradition, abortion was not a crime prior to quickening (when the mother can feel movement). Meticulous primary source documentation using newspapers and court records provides substantial evidence to the contrary. Many other misconceptions are also addressed, including the pro-choice talking points that coat hanger and Lysol abortions were common in the 20th century, that pro-lifers are religious extremists, and that if Roe was overturned, women would be forced into “back-alley” abortions.

For Understanding and Engagement

Olasky and Savas have provided a meticulously documented resource for understanding our time and place as it relates to abortion in America. And even more, they do so through moving and engaging stories—of young women victimized by irresponsible men and abortion accomplices, of opulence and corruption among infamous abortionists like Madame Restell and Inez Burns, and of the few but bold 19th-century preachers who connected ending slavery with ending abortion. Readers will find all these threads colorfully brought to life and conscientiously documented. You will also find similarities with where we are today, which can inform our engagement as the tumultuous post-Roe landscape settles out.