The Foundation of Bodily Autonomy in Early American Governance

The history of reproductive rights in the United States is not a linear progression toward liberalization, but rather a complex cycle of autonomy, institutional criminalization, federal protection, and eventual fragmentation. In the earliest periods of American history, spanning from the colonial era through the mid-nineteenth century, the regulation of reproduction was governed by English common law traditions that prioritized a pragmatic understanding of gestation. During this period, abortion was generally legal until the point of “quickening”—the moment a pregnant individual first perceived fetal movement, typically occurring between the sixteenth and twentieth weeks of pregnancy.¹ This threshold reflected a social and legal consensus that life was a progressive development rather than an instantaneous event.

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