A Recount of Anarchist Emma Goldman’s Experience of Midwifery in the 1890’s Shows How Far Reproductive Rights Have Come… and the Importance of Keeping Them
In her autobiography, “Living My Life”, famed anarchist Emma Goldman, recounts her experience as a midwife, serving mostly poor immigrants who could not afford a doctor for childbirth. Her experience shows what life was like before safe reproductive options were available and illuminates the impact of those who have tirelessly dedicated their activism to women’s reproductive rights have made on the improved quality of life that women have today. These rights and options must be protected in the ongoing war against women’s autonomy.
“Still more impressed was I by the fierce, blind struggle of the women of the poor against frequent pregnancies. Most of them lived in continual dread of conception; the great mass of married women submitted helplessly, and when they found themselves pregnant, their alarm and worry would result in the determination to get rid of their expected offspring. It was incredible what fantastic methods despair could invent: jumping off tables, rolling on the floor, massaging the stomach, and using blunt instruments. These and similar methods were being tried, generally with great injury. It was harrowing, but it was understandable. Having a large brood of children…
