Abortion Fiction: Part 6 - Philosophies of Life to Eugenics

In this episode we conclude our series of episodes responding to John Iriving's article in the New York Times. We demonstrate how Dr. Horatio Storer's writings and campaigns influenced state legislatures to criminalize abortion by making the law consistent with advances in science and medicine. We see how the laws against abortion strengthened, but then began to scale back as the eugenics movement in the early twentieth century ranked the worth of one life against another. We examine some quotes from Margaret Sanger, the founder of abortion provider Planned Parenthood that show the strong eugenics mindset behind the origins of abortion as a means of population control and engineering.

Sources Cited:

"The Long, Cruel History of the Anti-Abortion Crusade"

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/opinion/anti-abortion-history.html

Margaret Sanger, "High Lights in the History of Birth Control," Oct 1923.

Margaret Sanger, Woman and the New Race, Chapter 5, "The Wickedness of Creating Large Families." (1920)

Margaret Sanger, "America Needs a Code for Babies," Article 4, March 27, 1934.

https://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/webedition/app/documents/show.php?sangerDoc=101807.xml

*****

Like what you hear? Donate to Truthspresso and give a shot of support!

*****