Abortion was first practiced in Western Europe and United States in the 19th century by women healers. The women healers “used a variety of techniques to end pregnancies, making use of herbal abortifacients, mechanical methods (such as constriction of a griddle or introduction of foreign objects into the uterus), heat applied externally, strenuous physical activity, and starvation” (Lewis Alexander/Alexander 125). By the end of the 1800s many physicians tried to launch movements …show more content…
“Each year an estimated 13,000 American women have abortions after becoming pregnant as a result of rape and/or incest” (Friedman 7). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “14,000 abortions are done because of rape/incest (This only makes up about 1% of all abortions.)” Many Americans assume that a women who conceived because of rape or incest would chose to have an abortion, but in actuality, that is not the case. As stated in Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions and Children Resulting From Sexual Assault, “None of the women who gave birth to a child conceived in sexual assault expressed regret or wished they had aborted instead.” It also stated, “Most women who had abortions said that abortion only increased the trauma they were