usually between the sixteenth and eighteenth week of pregnancy.” Prior to the point of quickening in a woman’s pregnancy, abortion was not considered a crime since the woman might not have been aware of the pregnancy, particularly if her menstrual cycle was irregular. While current laws seeking to ban abortion in Indiana and across the United States focus on the detection of a fetal heartbeat, legal cases between 18 were frequently concerned with “quickening,” which is defined as “the point in which the pregnant woman first feels the fetus move. Due to the complexities of the abortion debate in Indiana, this article will only discuss the state of abortion prior to the 1970s.
In presenting a history of abortion in Indiana, I hope to share how both access and barriers to the termination of pregnancies have changed from the 19 th century to the present. Jackson Women’s Health put the responsibility back on each individual state to determine abortion law for its citizens. Landauer Collection, accessed New-York Historical Society.
New-York Historical Society Library, Bella C. Chichester’s English Pennyroyal Pills advertising pamphlet, ca.
