4/8: response to readings

Before class, read the below, and write and upload a document (rather than pdf) by noon on Tues. 4/8, that responds to each of these questions (5 points):

1. According to Stansell, who were the main supporters and opponents of liberalizing U.S. abortion laws in the late 1960s and early 1970s? How did the prominence of different perspectives and voices on abortion liberalization change over time? (two paragraphs)
2. From Gregory’s essay, what do we learn about the history of abortion in Seattle during this same time period? What primary sources does he rely upon and how do they shape the story he tells? What aspects of the history of abortion in Seattle does his essay leave unexplored? (two paragraphs)
3. Identify and describe an argument or example in the Shrag reading about defining history and historians’ ethics that you found surprising, provocative, especially important, and/or misguided, and explain why you found it so. (one paragraph)

• Christine Stansell, “Politics and the Female Body” in The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present (New York: The Modern Library, 2010), 312-51 plus footnotes [pdf]
• James Gregory, “When Abortion was Illegal (and Deadly): Seattle’s Maternal Death Tool,” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project (2013; expanded and updated 20222) Links to an external site.
• Zachary Schrag, The Princeton Guide to Historical Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021), 1-35