Controlling the Uterus

Abstract:

Eliminating and easing pain in childbirth has long been considered a major obstetric achievement. But what about the ability to control the uterus and when childbirth happens? Why have augmentation and induction drugs not been central to historical analysis of medicalization of childbirth in the United States? Our understanding of how birth became medicalized is complicated when augmentation drugs are the central analytical lens. At the turn of the twentieth century, the emerging field of endocrinology and hormone-based therapies influenced the growing authority and professionalization of medicine and introduced the chemical manipulation of childbirth. This article explores two main points: first, the development of chemical interventions, like ergot and oxytocin, used to start and hasten labor; and second, how different drug categories pushed the boundaries of what was and was not “natural.” These drugs were valuable tools that helped solve public health concerns of maternal and fetal health outcomes, further entrenched women’s reliance on male physicians, and illustrate the complexities of how childbirth became a medical event in the United States.