Madame Restell — birth control and abortion provider
- Creator(s):
- Lohman, Charles
- Title:
- The married woman's private medical companion: embracing the treatment of menstruation, or monthly turns, during their stoppage, irregularity, or entire suppression: pregnancy, and how it may be determined, with the treatment of its various diseases: discovery to prevent pregnancy, the great and important necessity where malformation or inability exists to give birth: to prevent miscarriage or abortion: when proper and necessary to effect miscarriage when attended with entire safety: causes and mode of cure of barrenness, or sterility
- Publication/Origin:
- New York: [Charles Lohman?], 1848
- Description:
- English immigrant Anna Trow Lohman, known as Madame Restell, became notorious and financially successful by performing abortions. New York had outlawed abortion unless necessary to save the mother’s life, but abortion practitioners continued to work in the state. Restell was entrepreneurial. She sold patent medicines for birth control and abortion, provided housing for pregnant women, and facilitated adoptions. In 1847, her husband, the radical printer Charles M. Lohman, published a medical companion under the name A. M. Mauriceau. It went through at least nine editions. The book advertised Restell’s patent medicines, as well as condoms. Their business flourished, with branches opening in Philadelphia and Boston. In 1873, the Comstock Law to suppress the circulation of obscene materials was enacted, and in 1878 Restell was personally arrested by Anthony Comstock. Anna Restell committed suicide the morning she was to face charges in court.
- Citation:
- Lohman, Charles, The married woman's private medical companion: embracing the treatment of menstruation, or monthly turns, during their stoppage, irregularity, or entire suppression: pregnancy, and how it may be determined, with the treatment of its various diseases: discovery to prevent pregnancy, the great and important necessity where malformation or inability exists to give birth: to prevent miscarriage or abortion: when proper and necessary to effect miscarriage when attended with entire safety: causes and mode of cure of barrenness, or sterility, New York: [Charles Lohman?], 1848, Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed April 19, 2024, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/4139