sts based their jurisprudence on English common law. Although abortion did not receive widespread moral acceptance in the colonies, it was not considered criminal if performed prior to the "quickening" of the fetus. Quickening was said to occur with the first detectable movements of the fetus, around the fifth month of pregnancy. Colonial courts upheld this view, with few exceptions, throughout the first half of the 19th century: "Almost all . . . mid-century courts that considered the question also understood the common law to tolerate prequickening abortions" (Judges, 1993, p. 98).
The medical community played an important role in the shift in attitudes regarding abortion during the 19th century. Physicians with formal medical training had long been engaged in a battle to legitimize their profession. These physicians, adherents to the scientific method and members of the established medical community, were known as "regulars." In contrast were the "irregulars," practitioners with little or no formal training; some were graduates of diploma mills, others were apothecaries.
Both the regulars and the irregulars provided abortion services, but the irregulars sometimes made claims about "miracle" abortion potions, devices, and procedures. Partly motivated by moral conscience and partly from a desire to halt the competition, the regular physicians, under the auspices of the recently formed American Medical Association (AMA) sought to end legal abortion: "The physicians organized an effective media and lobbying campaign that focused on the fetus's right to life. Over time their efforts altered the prevailing attitudes about the practice in the United States" (Tribe, 1990, p. 30).
Social attitudes during the 19th century also contributed to the push for stricter abortion laws. One factor was the spreading fear of "race suicide" among white Protestants. By 1860 the American birthrate of predominantly Catholic immigran...