Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-350) and index
Introduction: The meanings of abortion -- Abortion and women's bodies: Rosana and Giovanni -- Abortion and the Church: Femia and Antino -- Abortion and the law: Maria and Superio
"Abortion in Early Modern Italy investigates the variety of meanings Italians gave to abortion, and asks how and why these meanings were created, reproduced, modified, and challenged. It shows that early modern Italy was not an absolute and timeless anti-abortion culture, an exemplary "Catholic Italian" and "traditional family" centered society that some might wish to conjure for political ends. When we expand our source base and adjust our methodology with the explicit aim of recovering the thoughts, practices and experiences of as many individuals as possible, we discover attitudes and practices surrounding abortion that are, not unlike our own, far more complicated"-- Provided by publisher
