Champion of Women and the Unborn: Horatio Robinson Storer, MD

Frederick N Dyer

Science History Publications, $39.95, pp 626

ISBN 0 88135 266 7

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Horatio Robinson Storer (1830–1922) is a historical figure to cause indignation among supporters of a woman's right to choose contraception and abortion. He motivated the American Medical Association into a “physicians' crusade” against abortion in 19th century United States. The resulting antiabortion legislation did untold harm or untold good, depending on your viewpoint, and the Supreme Court did not revoke much of it until 1973.

He was as much against contraception, holding that all available methods—including “use of a sponge, cold injections, the employment of condoms or the so-called womb guard, or that …