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The Termination Of The Quickening Doctrine: American Law, Society, And The Advent Of Professional Medicine In The Nineteenth Century, Beth Gibson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The moment life began was defined at the beginning of the nineteenth century by the mother's awareness of fetal movement. That moment was called quickening. The common law of England and of the early United States embraced quickening. Prior to quickening abortion was legally and socially benign. Abortion was a non-issue, for life was not considered to exist before the fetus was quick — which usually occurs in the fourth or fifth month of gestation. At the early stages of fetal development there was no difference between terminating pregnancy and simply restoring menses. By the end of the nineteenth century, …