Roy Adams reviewed Madame Restell by Jennifer Wright
A life fairly well lived and inspirational
5 stars
An informative, engaging read about 19th century abortionist Madam Restell (Ann Trow) and the historical context of abortion. I learned a -lot- reading this book but the most surprising thing to me was that abortion via various means was very common in the past. Mainly because birth control wasn't available so pregnancies were more frequent.
There is much to both hearten (a smart but poor immigrant woman from England works hard to overcome adversity and do well financially while helping lots of women) and discourage (just because she is a woman she has horrible obstacles to overcome and she appears to give into despair at the end).
I also see that the puritanical, regressive impulses of the past are still with us today.
As the saying goes: History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.
Hopefully with hard work this rhyme with the puritanical times will be short and we …
An informative, engaging read about 19th century abortionist Madam Restell (Ann Trow) and the historical context of abortion. I learned a -lot- reading this book but the most surprising thing to me was that abortion via various means was very common in the past. Mainly because birth control wasn't available so pregnancies were more frequent.
There is much to both hearten (a smart but poor immigrant woman from England works hard to overcome adversity and do well financially while helping lots of women) and discourage (just because she is a woman she has horrible obstacles to overcome and she appears to give into despair at the end).
I also see that the puritanical, regressive impulses of the past are still with us today.
As the saying goes: History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.
Hopefully with hard work this rhyme with the puritanical times will be short and we will be back to more open and liberal minded times.