The Ancient History of Abortion: Beyond Modern Debates
Abortion today, at least in the United States, is a political, legal and moral powder keg. But for long stretches of history, terminating an unwanted pregnancy, especially in the early stages, was a relatively uncontroversial fact of life, historians say.
Historical Context of Abortion
This long view of abortion matters, according to Mary Fissell, a professor of the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. That’s because assumptions about how abortion was viewed in the past color present-day arguments about abortion rights. Those rights have been severely restricted in many US states since Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that effectively made abortion legally available, was overturned on June 24, 2022, by the US Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Abortion opponents portray the rights granted by Roe v. Wade and legal access to abortion as an historical aberration, according to Fissell, which is not accurate, historians say.
“We have to understand that this is much more changeable than we’ve been led to believe. There’s a steady constant of women terminating pregnancies throughout history, but the meanings of that act have changed very significantly over time and will continue to change,” said Fissell, who is working on “Long Before Roe,” a book on the history of abortion that will publish in 2025. “The Dobbs decision was not inevitable, but rather a part of a much longer cycle of restriction versus acceptance,” she said.
Evidence from Antiquity
Egyptian papyrus, Greek plays, Roman coins, the medieval biographies of saints, medical and midwifery manuals, and Victorian newspaper and pamphlets reveal that abortion was more common in premodern times than people might think. Visitors look at a replica of the 3,500-year-old Papyrus Ebers, the largest scroll on the medical science of ancient Egypt, in the Albertina Library at Leipzig University in Germany. The 18.63-meter-long papyrus scroll is one of the most important sources of our knowledge about the medicine of antiquity.
Earliest References to Abortion
The first written references to abortion are contained in an ancient Egyptian papyrus written about 3,500 years ago. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical text, suggested around 1550 BC that abortion could be induced using a “plant-fibre tampon coated with a compound that included honey and crushed dates.” In ancient Greek and Rome, references to abortion and botanical substances that induce abortion were common in medical and other texts — although it’s not clear how widely they were used, Fissell said.
Historical Timeline of Abortion References
To further illustrate the historical presence of abortion, here's a timeline of key references:
- Circa 1550 BC: Ebers Papyrus in ancient Egypt mentions inducing abortion.
- 411 BC: Greek playwright Aristophanes references abortion in his work.
- Ancient Greek and Rome: Common references to abortion and abortifacient botanical substances in medical texts.
- Medieval Era: Biographies of saints mention abortion.
- Victorian Era: Newspaper and pamphlets discuss abortion.
In 411 BC, Greek playwright Aris...