Reproductive Solutions in the 19th Century

Reproductive Solutions in the 19th Century and Their Historical and Contemporary Impact Name Institutional Affiliation Reproductive Solutions in the 19th Century and their Historical and Contemporary Impacts The history of reproductive solutions has often revolved around the man’s right to regulate and control the body of the woman. Reproductive solutions involve methods used to control births, such as contraceptive methods and family planning methods. While these methods have been around for a while, their use and integration into the community setting have been significantly impacted by religious and cultural aspects that have limited women’s freedom. The primary concern has been on the topic of natural law from the religious point of view which emphasizes the importance of the human body in reproduction, hence criminalizing abortion and other birth control methods. The nineteenth century was a period of trauma and distress for women that wanted to use birth control methods. Annotated Bibliography Billauer, P., B. (2017). Abortion, moral law, and the first amendment: the conflict between fetal rights & freedom of religion. William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, 23 (2). In this peer-reviewed journal article, Billauer (2017) offers a historical transformation on the question of abortion, its criminalization, and religious perspective based on religious principles on the right to life. Billauer (2017)’s main argument is from the legal and philosophical point of view where he argues that the right to determine the morality of abortion should be left to women to decide. He writes, “A fetus is entitled a legal right to future birth…” (p. 285). The quotation above will be useful in compiling the final paper, considering that it takes into consideration the conservative point of view on the question of birth control. The nineteenth century restricted the right of women from the religious point of view, denying them the right to access or use birth control methods with the view that it was a sin. Billauer (2017) also states that “abortion was criminalized and considered murder” (p. 289). This explains why religion restricted women’s freedom to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy or not. This article is important for the final paper in the manner the author has addressed the issue of reproductive solutions by focusing on abortion in the nineteenth century. It is expected that the literature in this study will supplement other resources in the final paper to explore why women were denied the right to utilize birth control methods in the 19th century. Castuera, I. (2017). A Social history of Christian thought on abortion: ambiguity vs. certainty in moral debate. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 76 (1). In this journal article published in William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, Castuera (2017) provides a historical review on the morality of abortion and why the church was opposed to women terminating pregnancies. Castuera (2017, p. 121) writes “The authority of the Christian thought is based on the scripture…” Considering that the nineteenth century was considered the period of the spread of Christianity, missionaries used this opportunity to consider sacred religious readings the final law on human decisions. As such, new converts were opposed to birth control methods because of the natural law that declared the right to life. The Bible declares that life begins at conception, and as a result, termination of the pregnancy was considered murder and could attract legal consequences. This journal article is relevant to the thesis of the paper and the question of women’s views on reproductive solutions in the nineteenth century. Even though birth control methods targeted women, men were the main proponents of anti-reproductive solution methods because they did not consider women as persons. The article will blend the findings from other articles in strengthening the thesis statement and explaining why women’s rights to access birth control methods were suppressed in the nineteenth century. Garner, C., A. & Michel, A. (2016). The birth control divide": U. S. press coverage...