Abortion Crime Scene Photography in Metropolitan London 1950–1968
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12209484 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amy Helen Bell (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Pages | hkw125-hkw125 |
| Publication date | 2016-11-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social History of Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0951-631X • E-ISSN: 1477-4666 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/shm/hkw125 |
| OpenAlex | W2575398480 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
The London Metropolitan Police’s crime scene photographs of suspected criminal abortions between 1950 and 1968 both reflected and reinforced contemporary medical debates on abortion. This article analyses eleven crime scene photographs in the context of beliefs about illegal abortions: that they were performed secretly by foreign doctors on the fringes of medical respectability; that inept lay abortionists’ unsanitary treatment of desperate women lead to death by soap embolism and sepsis; and that, by the1960s, illegal abortions by medical personnel were in danger of becoming embedded in National Health Service hospitals. Crime scene photographs added to other forensic evidence about the illegality of abortion through visual clues such as beds, buckets, saucepans and evidence of either poverty or suspect prosperity. They also invited an emotional reaction by showing where the woman had lain, her body if she had died, and by documenting the domestic details of her private life
Abortion · Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Crime scene · Criminology · Metropolitan area · Political science · Poverty · Pregnancy · Prosperity · Sociology · Suspect · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Medicine · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,38 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2023 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |