'According to his professional judgment:’ Birth Control, Abortion, and Physicians’ Rights before Roe v. Wade

Lauren MacIvor Thompson, Assistant Professor of History,

Kennesaw State University.

In the early twentieth century, the use of birth control transformed from a robust commercial market for contraceptive devices that encouraged consumer choice to one that centered physician expertise and the doctor-patient relationship. This transformation shaped the future of reproductive rights for women in ways that reverberate today, including the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Sponsored by the Department of OB GYN at the University of Rochester Medical Center.