{"product_id":"contraception-and-abortion-in-nineteenthcentury-america-9780801428494","title":"Contraception and Abortion in Nineteenth-Century America","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn pocket-sized  coded diaries  an upper middle-class American woman named Mary Poor recorded with small \"xs\" the occasions of sexual intercourse with her husband Henry over a twenty-eight-year period. Janet Farrell Brodie introduces this engaging pair early in a book that is certain to be the definitive study of family limitation in nineteenth-century America. She makes adroit use of Marys diaries and letters to lift a curtain on the intimate life of a Victorian couple attempting to control the size of their family. Were the Poors typical? Who used reproductive control in the years between 1830 and 1880? What methods did they use and how did they learn about them? By examining a wide array of sources  Brodie has determined how Americans gradually were able to get birth control information and products that allowed them to choose among newer  safer  and more effective contraceptive and abortive methods. Brodies findings in druggists catalogues  patent records  advertisements  \"vice society documents  business manuscripts  and gynecological advice literature explain how information spread and often taboo matters were made commercial. She retraces the links among obscure individuals  from itinerant lecturers  to book publishers  to contraceptive goods manufacturers and explains the important contributions of two nascent networks-medical practitioners known as Thomsonians and watercurists  and iconoclastic freethinkers. Brodie takes her narrative to the backlash at the end of the century  when American ambivalence toward abortion and contraception led to federal and state legislative restrictions  the rise of special \"purity legions \" the influence of powerful reformers such as Anthony Comstock  and the vehement opposition of medical professionals. In this balanced and timely book Brodie shows a keen sensitivity to the complex factors behind todays politically  emotionally  and intellectually charged battles over reproductive rights.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648127066165,"sku":"ByrdShop_0801428491","price":26.62,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780801428494.jpg?v=1781710241","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/contraception-and-abortion-in-nineteenthcentury-america-9780801428494","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}