Every physician knows that there are many women so constituted, that they cannot give birth to offspring. They also know that some cannot become mothers without fearful peril. Some cannot give birth to living children, Others should not become parents, because, if they do, they transmit confirmed diseases, as Consumption, Syphyllis, Scrofula, etc, and their hapless progeny are doomed to a life of misery and premature death. Again, too rapid increase of family not only breaks down the mother, but is a cause of great anxiety, especially to those in moderate circumstances.—Text from an advertisement for a contraceptive douche, c. 1860s, found in Janet Ferrell Brodie's Contraception and Abortion in 19th Century America.
What woman wishes to be kept in a state of continual pregnancy? How often do we hear a lady exclaim: "I have all the children I want, and am determined to have no more, if I can help it." But alas! she is unable to escape We ask any parent if the control of reproduction would not be an inestimable blessing? Every one will say: "Let my wife and self have this ability, whether we choose to exercise it, or not."...This discovery will do more for Virtue, Morality, and Humanity than all the reformers combined.
One notes with bitter sadness and resounding contempt that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is fucking behind the times for the 19th century.
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