Punishing Abortion: Duty, Morality, and Practicality in Early 20th-Century France

Debates over the legality and morality of abortion in Europe, especially France, were quite different in the early 20(th) century than they became in Europe and America after widespread legalization. Instead of focusing on the potential rights of the unborn, politically powerful pro-natalist activists and their less influential neo-Malthusian adversaries debated the need for larger populations, the role of abortion in facilitating sexual immorality, and the economics of single motherhood. The fetus was largely ignored as most French people continued to hold pre-modern views of abortion prior to fetal movement as the morally neutral act of restoring delayed menstruation. French juries often showed leniency to women who aborted, although they more frequently voted to convict abortionists, especially midwives.