‘Les Avorteuses de Paris’
Abortion in the fin-de-siècle Press
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21728573 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathryn Bryan (0000-0003-0317-3911, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 259-273 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Dix-Neuf (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-7318 • E-ISSN: 1478-7342 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14787318.2026.2617100 |
| OpenAlex | W7133960540 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
In November 1891, the most famous abortion case of nineteenth-century France made the headlines: the Affaire Thomas. One hundred and fifty suspects were initially investigated by the police, of which 118 were then investigated by the prosecutor, before fifty defendants were brought to court, including the abortionist Constance Thomas, ‘La Mort aux gosses’. This faiseuse d’anges captured the public imagination, with help from extended coverage like Maurice Talmeyr’s daily series ‘Les Avorteuses de Paris’ in Gil Blas. In 1900, Le Journal published a story among its faits divers under the title ‘Les Mères coupables’, which was to be the first of 221 issues to include at least one story featuring this headline between 1900 and 1911. Among the accounts of infanticide and abandonment, the series featured a handful of abortions. At the height of the column’s popularity, yet another faiseuse d’anges gained notoriety on the front pages. Léonie Charretier, ‘L’ogresse de la rue Tiquetonne’, was arrested on the 26 December 1906 and faced trial in August the following year, accused of performing 1500 abortions. This story, among other faits divers, inspired journalist Gaston Tournier’s novel, La Fabrique d’anges, which he completed in April 1907, the same year that satirical illustrated newspaper L’Assiette au Beurre released an issue on Les Faiseuses d’anges. This article raises questions of culpability and moral contagion, how abortion provided fertile ground for these writers, who condemned the act while profiting from the public’s growing hunger for criminal scandals. It likewise problematises the consumption of these accounts and their potential impact on the female reader
Abortion · Population · Pregnancy · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Literature and Culture Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |