Abortion was a booming business in San Francisco in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As in many parts of the country, women here sought ways to manage their lives and families, and doctors practiced often dubious procedures in an ever-changing legal landscape. In this episode, we start off with a fatal case in which a doctor went on trial for murder, and we look at the history of abortion practice and law, locally and across the U.S.

Sources:

"Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers," Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, 1973

"Abortion in America : the origins and evolution of national policy, 1800-1900," James C. Mohr, 1978

San Francisco Call, Volume 108, Number 121, 29 September 1910: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19100929.2.11.1

For information on abortion providers, services, and laws in the US: I Need An A

Acid Attacks: Pakistan's Worst Social Epidemic

Evie Magazine, Ballerina Farms, and the Yassification of Christian Nationalism

Peter Thiel's Investment Firm is Backing a Menstrual Cycle-Focused "Femtech" Company

What is the Comstock Act? Center for Reproductive Rights

This Podcast Will Kill You: Pregnancy

The Comparative Safety of Legal Induced Abortion and Childbirth in the US

The True Story Behind the Welfare Queen Stereotype

Buck v. Bell + The Right to Self Determination: Freedom from Involuntary Sterilization Abortion Everyday: Tradwife Classes for High Schoolers?

Production Note

We recorded this episode in two sessions so you may come across some differences in audio, or you may not notice at all. Fingers crossed for the latter. - CK

Do you have a favorite cemetery and, if so, why is it City Cemetery, which currently lies hidden under Lincoln Park Golf Course and the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco? You know the one, with 20,000 people lying unmarked and invisible? Come with us on a journey back to the Gold Rush, where not one, but two cemeteries were closed and moved to the newest municipal burial ground, CITY CEMETERY, where they would eventually be abandoned and turned over to golfers and museum-goers. If you liked hearing about the PIT OF BONES at Fort Mason and Yerba Buena Cemetery, you'll love finding out what a CHARNEL HEAP is in this episode.

Show Notes

San Francisco's Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History: https://www.bethwinegarner.com/san-franciscos-forgotten-cemeteries

Here Lies A Story : Lost Cemeteries of San Francisco

https://hereliesastory.com/lost-cemeteries-of-san-francisco/

SF Genealogy, City Cemetery:
https://mail.sfgenealogy.org/doku.php?id=san_francisco_history:cemeteries:city

Alma de Bretteville Spreckels:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_de_Bretteville_Spreckels

Tunnel boring machine "Big Alma"

Richard Barnes, "Still Rooms and Excavations:"
https://www.richardbarnes.net/still-rooms/883irtu53jjpubdflaiy0p67uosyrz

Nikki the Archaeologist:

https://www.instagram.com/nikki.the.archaeologist/

City Cemetery landmarking:
https://www.sfheritage.org/community/lincoln-park-officially-designated-as-a-city-landmark/

Steven Welch, a fifth-generation funeral director at San Francisco's Duggan's Funeral Service, joins Beth and Courtney to share what mortician life is like, both today and historically. He also dishes about the embalming job on Pope Francis, how HBO's "Six Feet Under" feels torn from the pages of his own family's life, and how cremation services leave room for funerary malfeasance.

Links:

Jessica Mitford, "The American Way of Death" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Way_of_Death

Valencia Street funeral home map, FoundSF: https://www.shapingsf.org/images/fall2021/Corridor to Colma 11x17_final smaller.pdf

Pope Francis' embalmed hands: