March 26, 2024
SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments Against Chemical Abortion Pills
156 Years Ago Today Susan B. Anthony’s Paper Refused to Publish Ads for Chemical Abortions
A co-editor of Susan B. Anthony’s newspaper, The Revolution, explained why they did not accept advertisements for drugs designed to cause an abortion. “It is appropriate that on this anniversary, the US Supreme Court takes up charge that the FDA has allowed modern day chemical abortion without proper oversight, risking women’s health as well as terminating unborn children,” said Feminists for Life President Serrin Foster.
Like today, selling abortifacient medicines not only ended unborn lives and harmed women, but it was a source of profits. From the very beginning, Susan B. Anthony’s newspaper The Revolution had a known policy that “no quack or immoral advertisements [for patent medicines] will be admitted,” though these ads were a large source of revenue for periodicals of the time.
Parker Pillsbury, co-editor of The Revolution with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, explained the newspaper’s policy in the context of criticizing less principled publishers. In an article titled “Quack Medicines,” he wrote on March 26, 1868:
“Quack Medicine venders, however rich, proud, and pretentious, Foeticides and Infanticides, should be classed together and regarded with shuddering horror by the whole human race. And yet in every large city they hold more control over the public health and public morals, than all the regular medical schools and the pulpit combined…” Learn more here.
Foster added, “As the saying goes, those who ignore history are bound to repeat it. Once again women and children pay the price for a society that will not accommodate their needs. Mifepristone and misoprostol are sold as an easy fix. But seeing ones own offspring in a watery grave is a bitter pill. Women deserve better than abortion. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we promote holistic, women-centered solutions and unconditional support.”
If you are pregnant or parenting and need resources or support visit our helpsite Women Deserve Better or your local pregnancy center.
