Birth control and abortion in the Graeco-Roman world

Totelin, Laurence ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9576-1643 2026. Birth control and abortion in the Graeco-Roman world. Pedrucci, Giulia, ed. Mothering in antiquity, Routledge, pp. 45-56. (10.4324/9781003426004-6)

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This chapter attempts to uncover the place of abortion and contraception in the lives of Greek and Roman women, that is, those who sought to avoid becoming mothers or to limit the size of their families. This is no easy task when most ancient sources on the topic are authored by men, who often displayed a negative attitude towards family planning. I suggest, however, that by reading medical texts against the grain, looking in detail at where and how contraception and abortion are mentioned, we can argue that family planning was part of normal women’s healthcare in Antiquity. We can even find traces of women’s expertise in these matters.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	9781032546551
Last Modified:	19 May 2026 11:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/185465

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item