Welcome to the History of the Unborn. This website is meant to be a clearing house of information on the history of the unborn and the movement to defend their rights.
Primary Sources... Texts from earlier decades and centuries. Sources are in English, French or Latin -- many entries include a few notes about what kind of information one can find inside that could be of interest to pro-life history.
Secondary Sources... Lists of books and articles concerning the history of the unborn and the pro-life movement.
Original Articles and Blogposts... Original texts that I authored on the history of the unborn.
Features:
Topics for the Study of the History of the Unborn:
- The History of Embryology and how we developed our scientific beliefs about the unborn;
- The criminalization and/or legalization of abortion and the moral status of the unborn in the debate; the history of pro-life thought and the pro-life movement;
- The evolution of fetal imagery through the decades/centuries-- from Medieval paintings of the unborn Christ, through wax anatomical figures to today's ultrasounds;
- Technological developments and the unborn: The stethoscope (first device to hear the unborn); X-ray; Ultrasound; doppler; fetal monitoring; in vitro fertilization; plus all the debates surrounding their development and use;
- Theology and the unborn: Catholic, Protestant and other approaches throughout the ages. Prenatal baptism. Burial after miscarriage, both with or without baptism.
- The history of pregnancy, miscarriage and childbirth;
- Eugenics; the history of "monsters"; ideas about how to produce beautiful babies; social hygiene; mass abortion of the genetically compromised; the discovery of genetics and their impact on the unborn;
- The history of obstetrics/midwifery/maternal-fetal medicine;
- Fetal/Embryonic research and experimentation;
- The unborn in art and literature;
- The legal status of the unborn in law; unborn victims of crime; infanticide; the unborn and inheritance.
