"The first time I read 'War and Peace,' I managed to miss the suggestion that Hélène died of an overdose of abortifacient drugs. In 'Middlemarch,' when Rosamond goes horseback riding against the explicit wishes of her doctor husband and subsequently miscarries, Eliot hastens to explain that this was a 'misfortune' and that 'there were plenty of reasons why she should be tempted to resume her riding.'"
"In the U.S., at least, contraception was crude, childbirth was dangerous, food was expensive, and abortion before quickening-the moment when the fetus is first felt to move-was less legally controversial than it is now, though also apparently less likely to be named outright. (Euphemisms included 'taking the trade' and 'restoring the menses.')"
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