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Roe V. Wade
In the 1700s and early 1800s, the word “abortion” referred only to the termination of a pregnancy after “quickening,” the time when the fetus first began to make noticeable movements. The induced ending of a pregnancy before this point did not even have a name–but not because it was uncommon. Women in the 1700s often took drugs to end their unwanted pregnancies.
In 1827, though,Illinois passed a law that made the use of abortion drugs punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment. Although other states followed the Illinois example, advertising for “Female Monthly Pills,” as they were known, was still common through the middle of the 19th century.
Abortion itself only became a serious criminal offense in the period between 1860 and 1880. And the criminalization of abortion did not result from moral outrage. The roots of the new law came from the newly established physicians’ trade organization, the American Medical Association. Doctors decided that abortion practitioners were unwanted competition and went about eliminating that competition. The Catholic Church, which had long accepted terminating pregnancies before quickening, joined the doctors in condemning the practice.
By the turn of the century, all states had laws against abortion, but for the most part they were rarely enforced and women with money had no problem terminating pregnancies if they wished. It wasn’t until the late 1930s that abortion laws were enforced.Subsequent crackdowns led to a reform movement that succeeded in lifting abortion restrictions in California and New York even before the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.
The fight over whether to criminalize abortion has grown increasingly fierce in recent years, but opinion polls suggest that most Americans prefer that women be able to have abortions in the early stages of pregnancy, free of any government interference.
– History.com Staff
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Though I am writing this in April the garden season in Georgia has been a blast and Fresco has been my favorite. You no doubt are pondering what Fresco is?
Well Fresco is a new hydrangea making its debut this year. So, I better get the correct name front and center. It is Fairytrail Fresco Cascade Hydrangea.
So, the fact that The Garden Guy is telling you I have fallen madly in love with a hydrangea that has been blooming in April already starts to stir the imagination.
Proven Winners tells everyone up front that it is early to bloom but Fairytrail Fresco was already blooming when other hydrangeas were deciding if they were going to live through the winter with the repeating vortex.
Read the full story in Thursday’s Bowie News.
WATCH COUNTY NOTIFICATION FOR WATCH 151
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
35:5 PM CDT SUN APR 26, 2026
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH 151 IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN TEXAS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 4 COUNTIES
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
COOKE JACK MONTAGUE
YOUNG
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF BOWIE, GAINESVILLE, GRAHAM,
JACKSBORO, NOCONA, AND OLNEY.
Lent has just ended and if you observed it in any way, strictly or somewhere in the middle, you probably felt it. That slow shift in how you cook, what you reach for, and how often you stand in the kitchen wondering what else there is besides peanut butter and pimento cheese. But there is something about going through a season like that that resets your perspective.
You come out the other side appreciating things you did not think twice about before, and sometimes you discover a few new ones along the way.
As a kid, the frozen seafood we ate came in a rectangular box and answered to the name fish sticks.
They were breaded within an inch of their life, cooked until vaguely crisp, and served with enough ketchup to make you forget what you were eating.
They were not great. They were fine, which for a long time was about the best you could say for most frozen fish. And that stuck with me.
Read the full On The Table feature in your Thursday Bowie News.
See a shrimp ramen recipe (top photo) in On the Table this week.
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