Por el bien de la nación: discursos científicos en favor de la medicalización del parto en el Perú, 1900-1940 / For the good of the nation: scientific discourses endorsing the medicalization of childbirth in Peru, 1900-1940

Resumen A lo largo del siglo XX se sucedió una serie de cambios en la forma de concebir el parto que pasó de ser un fenómeno reproductivo natural propio del ámbito doméstico y femenino a un asunto médico y profesional del ámbito institucional. A través de procedimientos como el uso de anestesia, la cesárea, el ultrasonido y otras intervenciones técnico-científicas se han generado rápidas e importantes mejoras y cambios para la salud y vida de la sociedad y las mujeres. La medicalización del parto a comienzos del siglo XX fue parte de un proceso más amplio de construcción del Estado e institucionalización del patriarcado común en la región.

Abstract Over the course of the twentieth century, a series of changes occurred in the understanding of childbirth, which went from being a natural reproductive phenomenon belonging to the female, domestic sphere to a professional medical matter handled in an institutional setting. Through procedures like the use of anesthesia, Cesarean sections, ultrasound and other techno-scientific interventions, rapid and significant improvements and changes took place in the health and life of society and of women. The medicalization of childbirth in the early twentieth century was part of a broader process of constructing the state and institutionalizing the patriarchy that was common throughout the region.

En Argentina, durante 2018 el aborto salió del armario pero no de la clandestinidad / In Argentina, during 2018 abortion came out of the closet but not from hiding

La autora de este artículo hace una síntesis de la evolución histórica y de las diferentes posturas religiosas frente al abor-to, describe su epidemiología mundial y la posición de la Organización Mundial de la Salud frente a esta problemática, resume el desarrollo y el desenlace del recientemente instalado debate sobre la legalización del aborto en Argentina y, finalmente reflexiona sobre lo que nos ha dejado este proceso político. (AU)

The author of this article summarizes the historical evolution and the different religious positions regarding abortion, describes its global epidemiology and the position of the World Health Organization in relation to this problem, summarizes the development and the outcome of the recently installed debate on the legalization of abortion in Argentina and, finally, reflect on what this politi-cal process has left us. (AU)

For the good of the nation: scientific discourses endorsing the medicalization of childbirth in Peru, 1900-1940. / Por el bien de la nación: discursos científicos en favor de la medicalización del parto en el Perú, 1900-1940.

Over the course of the twentieth century, a series of changes occurred in the understanding of childbirth, which went from being a natural reproductive phenomenon belonging to the female, domestic sphere to a professional medical matter handled in an institutional setting. Through procedures like the use of anesthesia, Cesarean sections, ultrasound and other techno-scientific interventions, rapid and significant improvements and changes took place in the health and life of society and of women. The medicalization of childbirth in the early twentieth century was part of a broader process of constructing the state and institutionalizing the patriarchy that was common throughout the region.

A lo largo del siglo XX se sucedió una serie de cambios en la forma de concebir el parto que pasó de ser un fenómeno reproductivo natural propio del ámbito doméstico y femenino a un asunto médico y profesional del ámbito institucional. A través de procedimientos como el uso de anestesia, la cesárea, el ultrasonido y otras intervenciones técnico-científicas se han generado rápidas e importantes mejoras y cambios para la salud y vida de la sociedad y las mujeres. La medicalización del parto a comienzos del siglo XX fue parte de un proceso más amplio de construcción del Estado e institucionalización del patriarcado común en la región.

[[The Obstacles to the Application of the Law 194].] / Gli Ostacoli All'Applicazione Della Legge 194.

Law 194 was introduced in Italy in 1978, following a campaign by women's groups, but alsofollowing the rise in illegal abortions and related deaths; after quite 40 years, we are now assisting to the dangerous return to illegality, related with the obstacles to the application of the law. The main causes of this phenomena are: the conscientious objection, the non- compliance of the law and the providers' "burn-out". The law permits to medical and non medical personnel to refuse to carry out abortions on conscientious groumds, but this right is greatly abused, with harmfil consequences on women's health. Another huge obstacle is represented by the non-compliance of the law: the hospital's "objection", the scarce accessibility to medical abortion, the lack of scientific, practical and ethic formation of the providers. The provider's "burn-out" is the last obstacle, a hidden but not secondary factor. A new, really non religious thought, becomes thus a necessity for our life and for women's health.

'The trial the world is watching': the 1972 prosecution of Derk Crichton and James Watts, abortion, and the regulation of the medical profession in apartheid South Africa.

After its formation in 1910 as a self-governing dominion within the British empire, the Union of South Africa followed a combination of English and Roman-Dutch common laws on abortion that decreed the procedure permissible only when necessary to save a woman's life. The government continued doing so after South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth and became a republic in 1961. In 1972 a sensational trial took place in the South African Supreme Court that for weeks placed clandestine abortion on the front pages of the country's newspapers. Two men, one an eminent doctor and the other a self-taught abortionist, were charged with conspiring to perform illegal abortions on twenty-six white teenagers and young unmarried women. The prosecution of Dr Derk Crichton and James Watts occurred while the National Party government was in the process of drafting abortion legislation and was perceived by legal experts as another test of the judiciary's stance on the common law on abortion. The trial was mainly intended to regulate the medical profession and ensure doctors ceased helping young white women evade their 'duty' to procreate within marriage. Ultimately, the event encapsulated a great deal about elites' attempt to buttress apartheid culture and is significant for, among other reasons, contributing to the production of South Africa's extremely restrictive Abortion and Sterilisation Act (1975).

Abortion in Iranian legal system: a review.

Abortion traditionally means, "to miscarry" and is still known as a problem which societies has been trying to reduce its rate by using legal means. Despite the pregnant women and fetuses have being historically supported; abortion was firstly criminalized in 1926 in Iran, 20 years after establishment of modern legal system. During next 53 years this situation changed dramatically, so in 1979, the time of Islamic Revolution, aborting fetuses before 12 weeks and therapeutic abortion (TA) during all the pregnancy length was legitimate, based on regulations that used medical justification. After 1979 the situation changed into a totally conservative and restrictive approach and new Islamic concepts as "Blood Money" and "Ensoulment" entered the legal debates around abortion. During the next 33 years, again a trend of decriminalization for the act of abortion has been continuing. Reduction of punishments and omitting retaliation for criminal abortions, recognizing fetal and maternal medical indications including some immunologic problems as legitimate reasons for aborting fetuses before 4 months and omitting the fathers' consent as a necessary condition for TA are among these changes. The start point for this decriminalization process was public and professional need, which was responded by religious government, firstly by issuing juristic rulings (Fatwas) as a non-official way, followed by ratification of "Therapeutic Abortion Act" (TAA) and other regulations as an official pathway. Here, we have reviewed this trend of decriminalization, the role of public and professional request in initiating such process and the rule-based language of TAA.

An investigation into the ancient abortion laws: comparing ancient Persia with ancient Greece and Rome.

Since the dawn of medicine, medical rights and ethics have always been one of mankind's concerns. In any civilisation, attention paid to medical laws and ethics depends on the progress of human values and the advancement of medical science. The history of various civilisations teaches that each had its own views on medical ethics, but most had something in common. Ancient civilisations such as Greece, Rome, or Assyria did not consider the foetus to be alive and therefore to have human rights. In contrast, ancient Persians valued the foetus as a living person equal to others. Accordingly, they brought laws against abortion, even in cases of sexual abuse. Furthermore, abortion was considered to be a murder and punishments were meted out to the mother, father, and the person performing it.

Reprodução, sexualidade e poder: as lutas e disputas em torno do aborto e da contracepção no Rio de Janeiro, 1890-1930 / Reproduction, sexuality and power: the struggles and disputes over abortion and contraception in Rio de Janeiro, 1890-1930

Este artigo analisa o debate de médicos acerca do aborto, da virada do século XIX até os anos 1930, sobretudo na Academia Nacional de Medicina. Considerado um crime, o aborto era visto como algo que ameaçava o domínio dos maridos sobre as esposas e o controle dos atos médicos em relação ao corpo feminino. As parteiras, tidas como as divulgadoras das técnicas médicas de interrupção da gravidez, foram combatidas como grave ameaça à ordem de gênero constituída. Foram analisadas dez teses da Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro, os boletins da Academia Nacional de Medicina e matérias publicadas nos jornais Correio da Manhã e O Globo.

This article examines the debate among physicians over abortion, from the turn of the nineteenth century through to the 1930s, especially in the Academia Nacional de Medicina (National Academy of Medicine). Considered a crime, abortion was seen as something that threatened the dominance of husbands over wives and the control over medical practice in relation to the female body. Midwives, seen as the propagators of the techniques of medical termination of pregnancy, were opposed as a serious threat to the established gender order. Ten theses of the Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro were analyzed, as well as the bulletins of the Academia Nacional de Medicina and articles published in the Correio da Manhã and O Globo newspapers.

Reflections, memories, and sources 'The cleanest man on earth': Harcourt Whipple Ellis and the NLA Australian newspapers.

The National Library of Australia (NLA) Australian Newspapers project went public in July 2008, but many historians and researchers are as yet unaware of its existence, or of its great potential for their research. This article will demonstrate the revolutionary potential of this project for the history of medicine in Australia. Using the case ofa largely-forgotten Western Australian chemist, dentist, and optician, Harcourt Whipple Ellis, a search of the NLA Australian Newspapers project produces a substantial amount of information on his at times scandalous career, a general physical description, a verbatim quotation, and many other witnesses statements attributed to him. These newspaper articles flesh out' Ellis, and also provide valuable insights into early-twentieth-century life in Perth.

Historical perspective on induced abortion through the ages and its links with maternal mortality.

Abortion is mentioned in ancient medical texts but the effectiveness of the methods described is doubtful. Attitudes varied from apparent disapproval by Hippocrates to open approval in Ancient Rome. In mediaeval times abortion was practised by women in secret and this continued during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite being illegal in England induced abortion became more common in Victorian times as the population grew. At the same time the link between criminal abortion and maternal mortality became increasingly clear, and if a woman died after a procedure the abortionist (sometimes a midwife) could be sentenced to death. The law was more tolerant of abortions performed by registered doctors. In the 20th century pressure grew for its legalisation. At the time of the 1967 Abortion Act, abortion was the leading cause of maternal death in the UK but within fifteen years death from illegal abortion had been abolished.

The King versus Aleck Bourne.

The case that established the lawfulness of terminating pregnancy to preserve women's health.

La nación en peligro: el debate médico sobre el aborto en Chile en la década de 1930 / The nation in danger: the medical debate about the abortion in Chile during the decade of 1930

Presenta el debate médico sobre el aborto en la década de 1930. Los médicos no fueron los únicos en Chile se referieron al 'aborto criminal', pero tuvieron la principal influencia mediática y política para mostrarlo ante la sociedad. El constacto profesional con las mujeres y, en gran medida, la progresiva participación y autoridad que asumían en los asuntos públicos contribuyeron a convertilos en cruciales forjadores de la noción de que el aborto era un flagelo nacional, objeto de imperativa atención estatal.

[The medical debate on contraception and abortion in Buenos Aires in the 1960s]. / El debate médico sobre anticoncepción y aborto en Buenos Aires en los años sesenta del siglo XX.

During the 1960s, there were important medical debates in Buenos Aires about the effects of the birth control pill on women's health and about its political, demographic and moral consequences. Other issues addressed by healthcare professionals in the Buenos Aires Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology were abortion and changes in gender relations and sexual behaviours. These discussions are analyzed in this article, taking account of the specific national and international context and pointing to some of the consequences of these debates for the "contraception culture" of the country.

The history of abortion-related acts and current issues in Japan.

In Japan abortion is categorized into two types by law; one is illegal feticide and the other is legal abortion. The present criminal law forbids feticide in principle and the life of a fetus is protected. However, abortion can be practiced under the "Eugenic Protection Act" established in 1948 (currently referred to as the "Maternal Protection Act"), and is readily available in Japan. In this paper, I have traced the historical origins of abortion law and attempted to clarify the problems related to the current laws relating to artificial abortion. As a result, the existence of contradictions between attitudes toward the life of the fetus and that of the mother, women's right to self determination, and women's rights under current legislation has been clarified.

Uneasy allies: pro-choice physicians, feminist health activists and the struggle for abortion rights.

Abortion represents a particularly interesting subject for a social movements analysis of healthcare issues because of the involvement of both feminist pro-choice activists and a segment of the medical profession. Although both groups have long shared the same general goal of legal abortion, the alliance has over time been an uneasy one, and in many ways a contradictory one. This paper traces points of convergence as well as points of contention between the two groups, specifically: highlighting the tensions between the feminist view of abortion as a women-centred service, with a limited, 'technical' role for the physicians, and the abortion-providing physicians' logic of further medicalization/professional upgrading of abortion services as a response to the longstanding marginality and stigmatisation of abortion providers. Only by noting the evolving relationships between these two crucial sets of actors can one fully understand the contemporary abortion rights movement. We conclude by speculating about similar patterns in medical/lay relationships in other health social movements where 'dissident doctors' and lay activists are similarly seeking recognition for medical services that are controversial.