Whose History & Tradition: Legal Elites or Ordinary Americans? Abortion in U.S. Newspapers, 1830-1868

Wednesday, October 28, 2026 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EDT Patricia Cline Cohen, UC Santa Barbara, and Aaron Tang, UC Davis Law School Comment: Nancy F. Cott, Harvard University This is a hybrid event.&nbsp; <a href="https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/History-of-Women-Gender--Sexuality-Seminar-with-Cohen-and-Tang---In-Person-Research">Register to attend in-person</a> <a href="https://18308a.blackbaudhosting.com/18308a/History-of-Women-Gender--Sexuality-Seminar-with-Patricia-Cline-Cohen-and-Aaron-Tang-Research">Register to attend online&nbsp;</a> From the 1820s to the 1860s, some two-thirds of the states passed laws criminalizing abortion in all stages of pregnancy. In what ways, if any, did those laws intersect with public behavior? We have assembled a database of newspaper accounts describing close to 500 abortion events which entered the legal systems of the states.&nbsp; Our findings reveal a very large disconnect between what legislatures decreed and what the public accepted and indeed allowed. Join the conversation at the <a href="https://www.masshist.org/seminars/history-women-gender-sexuality-seminar">History of Women, Gender, &amp; Sexuality Seminar</a>. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. <a href="https://www.masshist.org/research/seminars">Learn more</a>. Purchasing the $25 seminar subscription gives you advance access to the seminar papers of all seven seminar series for the current academic year. Subscribe at <a href="https://www.masshist.org/research/seminars">www.masshist.org/research/seminars</a>. Subscribers for the current year may login to view <a href="https://www.masshist.org/seminars/papers">currently available essays</a>.&nbsp; The in-person reception starts at 4:30 PM and the seminar will begin at 5:00 PM. The virtual seminar begins at 5:00 PM and will be hosted on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive a confirmation message with attendance information. If you have any questions about the program or accessibility needs, please contact Cassie Cloutier at ccloutier@masshist.org.&nbsp;

Massachusetts Historical Society 

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Whose History & Tradition: Legal Elites or Ordinary Americans? Abortion in U.S. Newspapers, 1830-1868

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