HIST216

This course covers the history of abortion in America. lt not a forum to discuss our opinions on legal abortion; instead. we will foreground today’s divisive debates. in the course, we will study the history of access to abortion in America over time, including how and why the procedure was outlawed in the late 19th century, only to be legalized in certain circumstances (and subsequently restricted in a variety of ways) over the past fifty years. In particular, we will trace how, in the past fifty years, abortion evolved from a private matter scarcely discussed in private conversations to one of the most public, divisive, and partisan political issues in American life. Abortion in American History fulfills a 200-level course requirement for the History major and minor; it also is an elective for the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor.