Episode 4.4. Abortion in Early Modern Italy

Dirty Sexy History

Just this week, all but two Senate Republicans voted against the Right to Contraception Act. At the same time, the GOP is calling for a nationwide ban on abortion. But what happens when abortion is banned? It happened in Italy in 1588…but it didn’t work. It was overturned only three years later in 1591. This week, Jess talks to Dr John Christopoulos about Early Modern family planning and the difference between Church doctrine and the sex lives of real people. We cover bans, common practice, extramarital sex, same-sex relationships in convents, and more. Dr Christopoulos’s book is the award-winning Abortion in Early Modern Italy, out now from Harvard University Press.