Birth prevention before the era of modern contraception
Etienne van de Walle
Population and societies
N°418, décembre 2005, n° ISSN 0184 77 83
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Abstract (click on +)
Only in the last two centuries have human beings started to practice effective family limitation. Methods of contraception and abortion have existed for much longer, but were not a part of everyday life. Etienne van de Walle examines those mentioned in three texts dating from different periods – a classical medical treatise, a libertine French document of the eighteenth century and a nineteenth century American marriage guide – to shed light on past methods and practices.
Contents (click on +)
Birth prevention before the era of modern contraception •
- Contraception in antiquity
- Libertine inventions of the Grand Siècle
- America 1850: contraception versus abortion
- Imperfect methods for controlling fertility
