The Complications of Family Planning in Victorian Households
The Complications of Family Planning in
Victorian Households
It may seem strange to
talk about reproductive issues that affected the lives of Victorian women. Many
of us associate sexual repression; with the sexual attitudes of a women in the
Victorian era. Yet, children were born at home. Couples tried to practice birth
control. Unwanted pregnancies many times ended in abortion or ended in complete
social disgrace for an unwed mother and her bastard child. Both women and men
knew little about their reproductive systems before entering marriage. A
significant number of poor women (up to 2%) made their living engaging in
prostitution for periods up to five years with very little understanding of the
transmission of sexually transmitted disease.
The greatest reproductive concern for the younger Victorian women was the lack of reliable birth control. The physical burden of child rearing and household management lead most women of the period to seek out ways to control their fertility. This may have been to limit the number of children they conceived over all or more commonly to space out the pregnancies so there would be a reasonable amount of time between childbirths.
Many families for the first time considered limiting the
number of children they had because of significant economic changes.
Land was not as less plentiful and more people found
themselves living in urban environments where large families were not an
economic asset. The birth rate in America dropped steadily from 1800
onward. In colonial times Americans had approximately seven children per
household. The birth rate dropped to less than four children per household by
1900.
This figure did not include African Americans who averaged 5 children per household. It also did not reflect that white rural families were still having very large families; and growing middle class urbanites were generally trying to have no more than two children. High infant mortality rates among urban immigrants probably made contraception a low priority. You simply had to have a large number of children to have as two or three to live to adulthood.
The introduction of birth control did help some Victorian
couples limit the number of children they conceived. Most couples were not
particularly good at practicing abstinence. Popular birth control methods were
withdrawal, the rhythm method, douching, and condoms.
Most men refused to wear condoms. Douching was only effective for middle class women who had access to bathrooms. The rhythm method failed because most women had no reliable way to know when they were ovulating. Many doctors felt that it was safe for couples to have sex midway between a women's menstrual cycle. This method leads to many unwanted pregnancies. It is estimated that one in five unwanted pregnancies ended in abortion. Poor women were more likely to seek abortions than middle class women.
In the late Victorian Era, the government faced with a declining birth rate among educated whites began to see birth control devices and abortions as contributing to, "race suicide" among whites. Middle class doctors and political figures, including Theodore Roosevelt 'felt it was immoral of middle class educated protestant women to restrict child bearing.
By the early 1900's groups like the Society for The
Suppression of Vice lead by Anthony Comstock helped campaign for federal and
state laws banning birth control and abortion. Abortion was usually still legal
to save the lives of the mother in most states. Congress also passed laws
limiting the "dissemination "of birth control information through the
mail.
Despite the "Comstock " laws the daughters of Victorian women fought and won suffrage , and middle class women continued to make very significant economic and educational gains in the early twentieth century.
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