Kitchens and Kettles: Domestic Spaces, Ordinary Things, and Female Networks in Irish Abortion History, 1922–1949

This article explores the material culture of abortion in Ireland, North and South, from 1922 to 1949. Focusing on spaces and things, it demonstrates the continuing importance of Irish women's domestic health care traditions and networks even during decades of enormous political, economic, and cultural change. By using ordinary household items in their abortion attempts, Irish women made their homes sites of medical care and ensured that women's roles as health care givers persisted. These women's determination to manage their reproductive health care mirrors the efforts of other European women in similar circumstances, suggesting that Irish sexual and reproductive health history should be placed in a broader comparative context.