A brief history of abortion – from ancient Egyptian herbs to fighting stigma today

By Alisha Palmer, PhD Candidate in English Literature, The University of Edinburgh

You might be forgiven for thinking of abortion as a particularly modern phenomenon. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that abortion has been a constant feature of social life for thousands of years. The history of abortion is often told as a legal one, yet abortion has continued regardless of, perhaps even in spite of, legal regulation.

The need to regulate fertility before or after sex has existed for as long as pregnancy has. The…

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