In 1734, scholars at France’s Royal Academy of Medicine encountered something unique: a tiny, nearly perfect replica of a fetus […]
The Intimate History of Confinement
From the first page, it’s clear that Dr. Jessica Cox’s Confinement: The Hidden History of Maternal Bodies in Nineteenth-Century Britain […]
Remembering the Forgotten “Black Angels”
Many historians, including myself, have told the story of New York City’s Sea View Hospital, a tuberculosis sanatorium that operated […]
Bishops and Politicians in the Delivery Room: A Review of Bishops and Bodies: Reproductive Care in American Catholic Hospitals
“There are some situations where the mother may in fact die along with her child. But—and this is the Catholic […]
In 19th-Century Philadelphia, Female Medical Students Lobbied Hard for Mutual Aid
In the waning years of the nineteenth century, future doctors kept falling sick. Students at the Woman’s Medical College of […]
“I Don’t Have Very Much Faith in Doctors”: Black Women, Reproductive Health, and Black Disability Politics
In January 2022, my Instagram feed was flooded with posts mourning Aubrion Rogers, a 30-year-old Black woman who died after […]
Thoughts on “terminal anorexia nervosa”
Eating disorders are complex processes to live with and recover from – I know firsthand from my struggle and subsequent […]
A Study of PCOS: Why Are Doctors So Fixated on Fertility?
“The medical industry is always trying to preserve women’s ovaries to have a baby,” lamented Erin Barnett, a woman with […]
The Mifepristone Case Hinges on Whether or not Pregnancy Should be Considered an “Illness” – What Can We Learn When We Look for Medical Precedent?
In November 2022, a group of physicians filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) seeking to revoke […]
Pennyroyal, Mifepristone, and the Long History of Medication Abortions
Around midnight on September 16, 1866, Dr. W. A. Wilcox of Saint Louis, Missouri, was called to the home of […]
