The question I have decided to look into, is how and when pregnancy became medicalized and how alcohol became a contra indicator in Canadian history. I want to start by looking at the shift from majority of expectant women being cared for by their community, to being under the supervision of doctors. I then want to move into looking at alcohol as an example of a contra indicator that became popular and later was determined to be the cause of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

In terms of pregnancy, I was able to find several sources that looked at the history of the medicalization of it, Giving Birth in Canada 1900-1950 by Wendy Mitchinson was one of them, as well as Delivering Motherhood: Maternal Ideologies and Practices in the 19th and 20th Centuries edited by Katherine Arnup. These sources were helpful in providing the history of medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth, and the source by Katherine Arnup discusses the transition of births at home to the hospital, within Canada, and provides a chart containing those statistics. The article we read for week four were all about pregnancy, and several of them discuss my topic and compare the different views, whether from midwives, or mothers themselves. They work well with the sources mentioned above as they follow the process of more births happening at the hospital, and as doctors take over the role of supervision. I also found a source called Pages of History in Canadian Obstetrics and Gynaecology by Thomas Baskett and it looked at providing maternal care in hospitals and how the health and information for mothers become known in hospitals.

I also plan on spending more time in Giving Birth in Canada 1900-1950 by Wendy Mitchinson and trying to locate some more Canadian primary sources. Some of the sources I plan on using required interlibrary loan, so after they come in I’ll have a better idea of how I plan on fully incorporating them into my paper.

When looking at alcohol as a contra indicator, as an example of how pregnancy was medicalized and the result of that, I plan on looking into the perspectives on alcohol and why the consumption of it during pregnancy was not seen as wrong. In my primary sources, they provided quotes that suggest alcohol as having no effects on the fetus, and in some cases, it was prescribed as a method to stop premature labour. These sources were written in the 1950 and 1960s, and having them in my paper really allows for context of the time period. There is also a source by Barbara Tucker called “Pregnancy and Drugs” and it was written in 1975 and it discusses the idea that there is still so much unknown around the idea of the effects of alcohol on fetuses. Although the primary sources I have found are American sources, they give a sense of the thoughts of society at the time. I plan on booking another appointment with the librarian to find more Canadian sources. I’m hoping to be able to find Canadians primary sources that share the same views as the primary sources I have right now, in order to show that the perspectives were consistent in several places around the world. Many of the articles assigned for week four, discussed the use of alcohol during pregnancy and how the perspectives changed over time and as research was done. I was able to find a source called Message in a Bottle by Janet Golden, that looks at how the connection of negative effects of alcohol consumed during pregnancy came about and how it was brought into the media. This source is an American source but I’m hoping to be able to find a Canadian source that looks at the same idea, and to compare them.

 

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Fuchs, Anna-Riitta, Fritz Fuchs, Vicente F. Poblete Jr, and Abraham Risk. “Effects of Alcohol on  Threatened Premature Labor” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, (1967) 99(5) p.627-637.

Keller, Mark. How Alcohol Affects the Body. Connecticut: Yale Center of Alcohol Studies, 1955.

Montagu, Ashley. Life Before Birth. New York: New American Library, 1964.

Tucker, Barbara, “Pregnancy and Drugs”, “Addictions”, Jan 1976 p.1-15.

Secondary Sources

Arnup, Katherine, Andree Levesque, and Ruth Roach. Delivering Motherhood: Maternal  Ideologies and Practices in the 19th and 20th Centuries. New York: Routledge, 1990.

Ashley, Mary Jane “Alcohol use during pregnancy: A Challenge in the ‘80s.” Canadian Medical  Association Journal (1981) Vol. 125 p. 141-143.

Baskett, Thomas F. (ed) Pages of History in Canadian Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Toronto: Rogers Media, 2003.

Clow, Barbara, “‘An Illness of Nine Months’ Duration’: Pregnancy and Thalidomide Use in Canada and the United States,” in Feldberg, Ladd-Taylor, Li and McPherson, Women, Health, and Nation, Montreal” McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003: 45-66.

Golden, Janet. Message in a bottle: The Making of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2005.

Johnson, Candace, “The Political “Nature” of Pregnancy and Childbirth”, Canadian Political Science Association and the Societe Quebecoise de science politique, 41, 4 (Dec 2008),  pp. 889-913.

MacDonald, Margaret, “Gender Expectations: Natural Bodies and Natural Birth in the New Midwifery in Canada, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 20, 2 (2006): 235-256.

Maykut & Morrison, “Potential adverse effects of maternal alcohol ingestion on the developing fetus and their sequelae in the infant and child.” Canadian Medical Association Journal (1979) Vol. 120 p. 826-828.

Mennill, Sally, “Ideal Births and Ideal Babies: English-Canadian Advice Literature in the 1950s and 1960s.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History. 2014, Vol. 31 Issue 2, p. 25-47.

Mitchinson, Wendy. Giving Birth in Canada 1900-1950. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,  2002.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Statement of Process

  1. I chose this topic because I have adopted siblings diagnosed with Fetal alcohol syndrome, and I’ve always wanted to be able to explore the topic more in depth. Something else that caused interest in this topic for me, was the fact that my grandma when she was pregnant with my mom was told by doctors that there was nothing wrong with consuming alcohol during her pregnancy. I was interested in the time in history when it changed from alcohol consumption, to no alcohol.
  2. When it came to choosing my sources, I was able to locate a section in each of our libraries on campus. One was more of the medical side of pregnancy and the influence of alcohol, the other was more history focused in terms of the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth. I think both perspective will really enable me to explore this topic more in depth. In terms of my primary sources, I was able to locate most of them from articles or books that I was looking at. I am still looking for more sources to add to my paper and to further my research of the topic.
  3. The assumptions I brought into my research, were that contra indicators would have been common knowledge sooner than when they did. Having siblings with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, I know that it still happens today, but I never knew I was prescribed by doctors at one point. The sources I found added to the knowledge I had on the topic, and it also provided some understanding as to why it might have taken so long to learn the effects.
  4. I would not say my view of the past has changed due to my research, I would just say my eyes have been opened to the lack of knowledge and understandings of the negative impact alcohol has on fetuses, known during the time I focused my research on.
  5. In terms of what I would do differently next time, is spending more time narrowing done my topic, and finding my sources sooner. I would have liked to spend more time in the library examining sources, and locating more sources.