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Research ArticleArticles

“Utterly Impossible”

Investigating Drug‐Related Abortions in South Carolina, 1872–1973

Cara Delay and Madeleine Ware
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals, February 2024, 65 (2) 242-265; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/hopp.65.2.242
Cara Delay
College of Charleston
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Madeleine Ware
Madeleine Ware is a PhD candidate in the History of Science and Medicine at Yale University;
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Abstract

This article analyzes criminal court records, coroners’ reports, and newspaper accounts to examine those involved in seeking, procuring, and investigating drug‐related abortions in South Carolina from 1872 to 1973. It explores how and why abortifacient cases were investigated, prosecuted, and depicted in the press. This research demonstrates that even well into the twentieth century, physicians, coroners, and legal authorities struggled to determine what effects abortion‐causing drugs had and what exactly an abortifacient‐related death was. The article discusses the sometimes contradictory roles that pharmacists played in abortion care and cases. Overall, this article demonstrates the confusion and complexities that characterized drug‐related abortion cases across a century in which legal and medical authorities attempted to eliminate illegal practices and professionalize reproductive healthcare.

Keywords:
  • abortion
  • emmenagogues
  • abortifacients
  • physick
  • miscarriage
  • materia medica
  • United States
  • U.S. South
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History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals: 65 (2)
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals
Vol. 65, Issue 2
1 Feb 2024
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“Utterly Impossible”
Cara Delay, Madeleine Ware
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Feb 2024, 65 (2) 242-265; DOI: 10.3368/hopp.65.2.242

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“Utterly Impossible”
Cara Delay, Madeleine Ware
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Feb 2024, 65 (2) 242-265; DOI: 10.3368/hopp.65.2.242
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Keywords

  • abortion
  • emmenagogues
  • abortifacients
  • physick
  • miscarriage
  • materia medica
  • United States
  • U.S. South
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