Histoire de l'avortement aux USA

After independence, abortion remained governed by the common law rules inherited from England. Only abortion performed after "quickening", after the first movements of the fetus perceived by the mother, was illegal.
Abortion is then a private practice, both common and tolerated.

The plants reputed to allow the "restoration of menstruation" are known (sabine, mint, tansy, cotton used by slaves, etc.). They are found in the woods, or cultivated in gardens. In the middle of the 18th century, the trade in potions based on abortifacients developed.

Anti-poison laws from 1821 to 1841

The first American laws penalizing abortion were passed in the first half of the 19th century. The aim was to protect women from sellers of remedies with so-called abortifacient properties that commonly caused the death of those who took them.

Connecticut was the first state to adopt abortion legislation in 1821.
The State of New York introduced the notion of therapeutic abortion for the first time in 1828. Although it prohibited abortion after quickening, it provided for an exception when it was performed to save the life of the mother.
By the 1840s, abortion had become a lucrative business.
Starting in the 1850s, doctors began an anti-abortion campaign in the 1860s.
Four periods can be distinguished during the ban on abortion, which lasted for nearly a century from 1880 to 1973.

The first period of criminalization of abortion from 1880 to 1930

From 1880 to 1930, abortion remained largely tolerated. It was performed in women's homes.
In order to repress abortion, the police wanted to discover from women dying following an abortion  the name of the person who had performed it.
The second period of criminalization of abortion from 1930 to 1940
Beginning in the 1930s, abortion gradually moved from doctors' offices and homes to hospitals and clinics. The practice of medical abortion, both legal and illegal, increased.
During the Great Depression, the rate of therapeutic and clandestine abortions increased significantly. For the first time, doctors took into account women's social conditions in their decision to allow therapeutic abortions.

The third period of criminalization of abortion from 1940 to 1960

From 1940 to 1960, the increasing entry of women into the labor market accentuated the need for birth control. At the same time, the repression of illegal abortions became more severe. McCarthyism (late 1940s, 1950s) associated abortion with communist ideology.

The fourth period of criminalization of abortion from 1960 to 1973

The last period (1960-1973) corresponds to the search for a reform of the anti-abortion legislation. Beginning in the late 1950s, professionals questioned the prohibition of abortion under any circumstances except to save the life of the mother.
By 1970, a total of twelve states had changed their abortion laws. That same year, the state of Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the mother's request up to 20 weeks, and the state of New York allowed abortions up to 24 weeks.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the use of the birth control pill for all women, not just married women.

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