Pour une histoire démographique de l'avortement
Van de Walle (Etienne).- For a demographic history of abortion Prior to the 19th century, the sources for the study of abortion in the west are not statistical but literary, medical, religious and legal, and give little indication of its demographic weight. It is, however, possible to study the frequency of the contexts in which abortion is mentioned: for example, by marital status of the mother, type of motivation, approval or disapproval of the author of the quotation, probable effectiveness of the methods used. The frequency of references to abortion can also be compared with those regarding alternative practices such as infanticide. Our examination of the very crude sources that are available, indicates that there is no compelling reason to conclude that abortion was in the past anything else than an unreliable, dangerous and rare practice, and with no demographic impact. The less dangerous methods were probably ineffective, while the drastic measures were only used by desperate unmarried girls and prostitutes.
Year of publication: |
1998
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Authors: | Walle, Etienne Van De |
Published in: |
Population (french edition). - Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED). - Vol. 53.1998, 01-f, p. 273-289
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Publisher: |
Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED) |
Saved in:
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