Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, MARÍA LAURA. Medicine, Eugenics, and Gender: Therapeutic Abortion in Women with Tuberculosis. Buenos Aires, 1920-1930. Anu. colomb. hist. soc. cult. [online]. 2018, vol.45, n.1, pp.191-213. ISSN 0120-2456.  https://doi.org/10.15446/achsc.v45n1.67556.

The article analyzes therapeutic abortion as a medical resource theoretically aimed at safeguarding the health and life of a sick pregnant woman. It addresses the issue by considering the relation between "tuberculosis and pregnancy", on the basis of clinical discourses and experiences published by a group of obstetricians, gynecologists, and tuberculosis specialists who worked in the hospitals of Buenos Aires between 1920 and 1930. The knowledge, discourses, criteria, and therapeutic practices discussed here show how conservative tendencies were gradually defined regarding gestation and female reproductive organs, according to a positive eugenic agenda that did not prioritize the health of the sick women. The paper shows how those tendencies were shaped on the basis of values and norms grounded in gender inequality.

Keywords : (Author) gender plots; tuberculosis; (Thesaurus) abortion; eugenics; women.

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