can't believe i'm having to say this but once again my good folks, medieval european peasant medicine was absolutely not, in any way, shape, or form, safer than modern medicine. also it usually wasn't free. abortion might've been legal then but it is a THOUSAND times safer today

yes we sure can and should talk about how the modern evolution of white supremacy has led to a more restrictive 'religious' interpretation of certain issues than existed in medieval christianity,

but not at the expense of bad history lmfao

medieval abortion was only 'safe' in the context of 'not any more likely to kill you than drinking water in a city'

it wasn't free at all unless the herbalist or barber owed you a couple favours lmao

sure you weren't paying cash for it but that's because most people didn't use 'cash' full stop, not because it was 'free'.

medicinal herbs are not 'safe' in any sense of the word. they can be used safely, with a great deal of education and skill, but like... that's a big caveat

so what we really need to talk about here is 'why did the church only get real interested in stopping abortion once it became safe, reliable, and accessible to the bulk of the population?'

and the answer to that is largely 'because of racist right-wing America'

don't let misinformation get you distracted.

signed, a historian who actually specialises in medieval culture

I am intentionally not linking to the thread I am subtweeting; please don’t search it out, I’m sure the guy means well. The problem is that stuff like this is a distraction. It’s not about the theology or the science. It never has been. If we try to argue on those grounds…

We’ll just lose, because they don’t care. All of their arguments for banning abortion are simply excuses for their end game, which remains the same- white, cishet male supremacy. That’s what we need to focus on.

We can’t logic or history or factualise our way past that. We just gotta fight it.

(why did i not provide a list of sources? because it's pointless. give me a claim, any claim, and twenty minutes on SOLO and I can find a list of sources to support it. accurate historical research is more nuanced than a list of books).

this thread contains some excellent sources and resources that address the real problem, and i highly recommend them if you'd like to learn more: https://twitter.com/SorayaMcDonald/status/1522211886497992704?s=20&t=FDKapBpi94sZoVT7YsT5GQ