E6. Gendered Approaches to Fertility, Contraception and Abortion in the Medieval and Early Modern West Scottie Buehler, Sam Houston State University (chair) - Nichola Harris, State University of New York Ulster: Concubines & Cockstones: Fertility, Contraception and Abortion in the Medieval English Lapidary Tradition
- Anne Leone, Syracuse University: Gestational Development and Terminating Pregnancy in Boccaccio
This panel focuses on premodern medical advice and pharmaceutical aids for fertility, contraception, and abortion in the medieval and early modern West. Three complimentary papers explore these topics using Italian, French and English sources from both religious and secular male authors. Research findings presented in this panel not only provide insights into these important aspects of premodern women’s health and healing, but also highlight the fact that much of this information circulated in male-authored texts offering a singularly male perspective of reproduction and the use of female bodies. The first paper “Gestational Development and Terminating Pregnancy in Boccaccio” investigates the theological, legal and medical opinions on abortion contrasted with the lived female experience. The second paper, “Concubines & Cockstones: Fertility, Contraception and Abortion in the Medieval English Lapidary Tradition,” examines medical advice within vernacular Middle English lapidaries aimed at male audiences seeking reproductive control of female bodies. “Henry Daniel’s Family Planning: Omissions, Additions, and Ambiguities in
Aaron Danielis,” the third and final paper in the panel, discusses pharmaceutical remedies involved in medieval family planning but also considers the ambiguity in the language used in Latin sources on the topics of abortion and contraception that often complicate modern inquiries. Such considerations of the historical use of contraception and abortifacients are especially timely in light of SCOTUS’ Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which includes references drawn from a thirteenth-century treatise and English Common Law. The use of historical sources by a modern jurist has spawned significant debate among researchers in the field of premodern medicine. As part of this ongoing debate, the proposed papers of this panel provide important evidence and insight into historical practices related to fertility, contraception, and abortion as well as offering substantive analysis of premodern Western cultural norms and attitudes in regard to women’s reproductive health.
