Advertising Abortion: Abortifacients Before the Comstock Act

Advertisements like this appeared in newspapers like the Boston Daily Times. This particular abortifacient ad was published in the paper in January of 1845, twenty-eight years before the Comstock Law made the language of these ads illegal. 

This ad was created by Dr. L. Monroe for "French Periodical Pills." It claims they offered regulation of "the monthly turns of females" and that "ladies married should not take them if they have reason to believe they are enciente (sic), as they are sure to produce a miscarriage."

The New York Sun published this advertisement for abortifacients in Febrary of 1842. According to the ad a female physician named Madame Costello could treat "obstruction of [women's] monthly periods." The language used suggests a level of disguise in speaking frankly about providing abortions.