Abortifacients in America

Title

Subject

Abortifacients
Abortion
Advertising
Anthony Comstock
Ann Lohman
Comstock Act 1873
Illicit Literature
Madame Restell

Description

American media advertised abortifacients in the early to mid-1800s, but the 1873 Comstock Act made the "obscene" literature illicit. The creation and consumption of abortifacients persisted due to providers like Ann Lohman, also known as Madame Restell. This collection is a quick snapshot of abortifacient advertisements pre-1973, abortifacients marketed and consumed between the 1700s - 1900s, and actors who contributed to American attitudes surrounding abortion: Anthony Comstock and Madame Restell.

Creator

Danielle Dulken

Source

Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Contraception and Abortion, and more.

Date

Eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Coverage

United States of America

Collection Items

Mrs. Bird, female physician To the Ladies--Madame Costello

Two advertisments from the New York sun newspaper. Mrs. Bird offers pills for treatment of menstrual irregularity and Madame Costello offers help to women who want to be treated for "obstruction of their monthly periods."

French periodical pills - Warranted to have the desired effect in all cases

Advertisment by Dr. L. Monroe in the Boston daily times newspaper for "French periodical pills" for regulation of "the monthly turns of females." Advertisement advises that "ladies married should not take them if they have reason to believe they are…

Beecham's Pills

[No indications or uses for this product are provided on its packaging.]

Beecham's Laxative Pills

aloes (drug active ingredients)
ginger (drug active ingredients)
capsicum (drug active ingredients)
oil of rosemary (drug active ingredients)
oil of aniseed (drug active ingredients)
oil of juniper berries (drug active ingredients)

The…

Madame Restell

Anna Lohman (1812-1877) and her husband, Charles, ran a flourishing mail-order business from the 1840s to the 1870s. Under the names Madame Restell and Dr. Mauriceau, they sold contraceptives and operated an abortion clinic in New York City.

Her…

Pennyroyal book

A handy little booklet for users inside of Chichester's English Pennyroyal Pills, Philadelphia, PA. Contains etiquette for the young lady, and calendar for the years 1902 to 1905. Practically have been pinned pages of wax paper on which to keep his…

"Nemesis": "These proud edifices have helped to rear that one! Your task is not yet completed".

[Cartoon showing Puck pointing at New York Herald and Staatszeitung newspaper buildings and saying to large female figure "Nemesis": "These proud edifices have helped to rear that one! (Madame Restell's medical office building). Your task is not yet…

French Soap

With soap an illegal abortion was triggered earlier frequently. For this, a bar of soap was either introduced via a metal catheter directly into the uterus, or first dissolved in water and introduced via a balloon catheter or an enema container. This…

St. Anthony Comstock, the Village nuisance

Illustration shows Anthony Comstock as a monk thwarting shameless displays of excessive flesh, whether that of women, horses, or dogs, with a "Jane Doe Warrant".

Madame Restell Arrested on Charges of Malpractice

Magazine illustration depicting Ann Lohman guilty of breaking the Comstock Law.

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