Mary Fissell
Historian of medicine, gender, sex. Part time metalsmith. Book on the long history of abortion out now! US: bit.ly/4iwTsoL
UK: bit.ly/4aCNEqu Substack: maryfissell.substack.com
- Reposted by Mary FissellApply today for the H-15 Early Career Research Grant! Deadline for Submission of applications: May 1, 2026 Date of Award: First week of July 2026 More information: aahn.memberclicks.net/research-gra... #histnursing
- Hey, do you know a grad student who's written a good history of medicine paper? Suggest that they submit it for the AAHM Shryock prize. histmed.org/shryock-medal/ Deadline extended to 15 Feb.
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- Reposted by Mary Fissell"Our new analysis shows that it is far more dangerous to be pregnant than to have an abortion, and this gap in mortality risk is even larger than previously recognized.” - lead study author Maria Steenland. In fact, the mortality risk of pregnancy is 44 to 70 times higher than from abortion.
- New post on A is for Abortion! The letter Y, as in youth. maryfissell.substack.com/p/y-is-for-y...
- New post on #FindtheMidwife! Sally Pezaro interviews Maurina Barron about her career.
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- Bet you thought I couldn't find something for the letter X, but... new post to A is for Abortion today! maryfissell.substack.com/p/x-is-for-e...
- Proud to be out with these folks in Baltimore today. 25-30 people, mostly 70- & 80-somethings, protesting on a street corner in the rain. Yeah, that's where we are now, it's that urgent.
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- New post on #FindTheMidwife! Wangui Muigai and Noelene Jeffers discuss a landmark film about Black midwifery in the US South in the 1950s. www.findthemidwife.com/wangui-muigai
- Reposted by Mary FissellThe “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.
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- Reposted by Mary FissellHow effective is protesting? According to historians and political scientists: very www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- Thanks, Nancy Novick, for a great convo: medhum.org/review/book-... ! See here for book itself: bit.ly/4iwTsoL or UK: bit.ly/4aCNEqu.
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- New post to #FindTheMidwife! It's 1688 and a midwife is at the center of a scandal about a royal birth -- and fake news is not a recent development! www.findthemidwife.com/fake-news-1688
- New post on A is for Abortion: W is for Witchcraft. Why did early modern people think that witches might have knowledge about how to get abortions?
- So much is so awful this morning... here's a little something cheering, played around with knitting as a break from grading.
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- New post on #FindTheMidwife! @sallypezaro.bsky.social interviews @eliskabujokova.bsky.social about an entrepreneurial early 19th century Edinburgh midwife. See: www.findthemidwife.com/eliska-bujok...
- New post on A is for Abortion. Story of a young wife, living in a Civil War hospital with her husband, who quietly ended a pregnancy. Imagine starting your married life in such a hospital!
- Honored to have given a George Washington Corner lecture at the Rochester Academy of Medicine -- what a setting!
- New post on A is for Abortion Substack! Today we go to drugstores, not blacksmiths, but we are not so very different from medieval and early-modern people, testing urine to ascertain pregnancy. Local experts included blacksmiths, female healers, and doctors.
- Reposted by Mary FissellIt's Corner Society week! Join us in person or online to hear @maryfissell.bsky.social give a talk titled "Savin, Sex, and Scandal: Rethinking Abortion in Early Modern Anglo-America." She'll also be giving grand rounds this Thursday!
- New post on #FindTheMidwife today. Sasha Turner talks with us about a 17th century enslaved Barbadian midwife. www.findthemidwife.com/sasha-turner. Thanks Dr. Turner!
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- Taking bets on Mike Johnson's new excuse for not swearing in Grijalva: a) it's raining out b) I can't seem to find a Bible c) who? It's not working, Mike, we still remember WHY you are avoiding this.
- Delighted to hear that Pushback is on the shelf @ www.staygoldbooks.com! If you are in Pittsburgh, be sure to catch this lovely indy bookshop in Regent Square. Not in Pgh? bit.ly/4iwTsoL
- New post on A is for Abortion! It's about a 15th c French woman who provided reproductive health care (including abortion care) to her community.
- Beautiful day to have given a talk @ annual @apha.org annual conference! Thanks so much Spirit of 1848 Caucus for inviting me.
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- It's a really special joy to get a book in the mail by a former student that started life as a thesis! www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10133/ Paul Child shows us eloquently how Jonathan Swift's life was shaped by ill-health and his attempts to combat it. Congrats, Paul!
- New posting on #FindTheMidwife! Noelene Jeffers and @d-squared.bsky.social in conversation about the long history of racism and gynecology: www.findthemidwife.com/deirdre-coop...
- Honored to be a featured author at #SFP2025 ! Thanks everyone for the welcoming & insightful conversations -- and for buying my book! bit.ly/4iwTsoL
- Had a wonderful time giving a talk @ubgenderinstitute.bsky.social, lots of great conversations, and they gave me some swag! Thx!
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- New post today: Silphium, the ancient abortifacient plant that went extinct from overuse... or did it?
