Changes

These three sects were operating in an environment unencumbered by any meaningful regulation. Over the next thirty years, that would change dramatically. While regular physicians were predisposed to advocating for some type of medical licensing, state legislatures had so far expressed little interest in creating any medical licensing. Up until that point nothing had occurred to galvanize widespread support for medical licensing until the summer of 1872.

In late August 1872 in New York City, a young pregnant woman named Alice Augusta Bowlsby read an advertisement in the newspaper for a Dr. Ascher. The advertisement stated that Dr. Ascher could help “[l]adies in trouble, guaranteed immediate relief, sure and safe; no fee required until perfectly satisfied; elegant rooms and nursing provided.”<ref> ''New York Herald'', classified advertisement, August 29, 1871.</ref> Bowlsby went to Ascher’s office where he performed an abortion. Bowlsby died from Ascher’s botched abortion, and her tragic death provided an opportunity for New York’s organized Regulars to open the debate for medical licensing.

The Bowlsby case was not the first abortion case to get publicity in 1871 in New York City. The New York City police had previously arrested two other physicians, Dr. Michael Wolff and Dr. Thomas Lookup Evans, for performing abortions that year. Both cases garnered media interest in New York City, but they did lead to any broader action by the medical community. Dr. Michael Wolff was convicted of second-degree manslaughter after the death one of his patients. The presiding judge in that case, Gunning Bedford, sentenced Wolff to seven years in prison and began a campaign in New York City to stamp out abortion. Bedford also presided over the trial of the other abortionist, Lookup Evans. Evans was charged with performing an abortion that killed twins. The Times refused to describe Evans’ alleged crime in the newspaper because it was of such a “revolting character” that it was completely “unfit for publication.”<ref> “Lookup Evans Again.” ''New York Times'', May 13, 1871, 2.</ref>

Judge Bedford spoke to the members of the New York Academy of Medicine on September 30th at the start of the Bowlsby case. These prominent abortion cases convinced Bedford that New York City was “living in an atmosphere of abortion.” He stated that the authorities would “strain every nerve until these traffickers in human life be exterminated and driven from existence.” Aside from prosecuting abortionists under the law, Bedford argued that the legislature should change the penalty for abortion or abortion-related deaths from second-degree manslaughter to first-degree murder. If convicted of first-degree murder, doctors could be executed for botched abortions.<ref> “Judge Bedford’s Late Charge on Abortion – Complimentary Resolutions by the New York Academy of Medicine,” September 30, 1871, ''New York Times''.</ref> At the same meeting, members of the New York Academy of Medicine passed a resolution promising to “promote public health and public morals” and pledged to support “any legislative or other measures” advocated by law enforcement officials to “remove the pestilence of criminal abortion.”<ref> Judge Bedford’s Late Charge on Abortion – Complimentary Resolutions by the New York Academy of Medicine, September 30, 1871, ''New York Times''.</ref>

Bowlsby’s “Trunk Murder” and Bedford’s campaign merged and convinced members within the medical community that it was time they eliminated abortionists from their ranks. Abortionists undermined the already questionable reputations of doctors and lowered the profession's standing in the public’s eyes. In step with Bedford’s proposal ratcheting up the abortion laws, members of the New York medical community argued that doctors had to be regulated by the state to stem the tide of tragic abortion cases in the city. Prominent Regular physicians wanted to stigmatize physicians who preformed abortions with medical licensing. Regular physicians began to argue that medical licensing was the only effective way to stop abortionists from plying their trade.

“Medical and legal members” of the New York Medico-Legal Society had drafted “An Act to Protect the People against Quackery and Crime” two years earlier, but it received little or legislative support. Soon after the Bowlsby case, Stephen Rogers, M.D., a member of the Medical Society of the State of New York and the President of the New York Medico-Legal Society, believed that it was critical for the New York medical community to stamp out abortion and focused the Medico-Legal Society on that mission. Not surprisingly, he believed that a medical licensing law was the best way to do it. Rogers’ primary goals as the society's president was to pass medical licensing and a new severe abortion law. The Times reported on January 12 the Medico-Society proposed a “bill against quacks” which had authorized the creation of county medical societies. These county societies would each appoint five censors who would examine “resident practitioners.” The proposed bill permitted prosecuting any unlicensed physicians “for obtaining money under false pretenses.” After the Medico-Legal Society approved the draft bill, it agreed to print copies of the bill for distribution around the state.<ref>“Medical Legal Society: A Bill Against Quacks,” ''New York Times'', Jan. 12, 1872, 8.</ref>

Roger ended up lobbying numerous regular and irregular medical organizations including the New York County Medical Society, the Medical Society of New York, the New York State Medical Society, the New York chapter of the American Institute of Homeopathy.<ref> see Stephen Rogers, M.D., “The True Object of Medical Legislation”, ''Papers Read Before the Medico-Legal Society of New York From its Organization'' (New York: W.F. Vanden Houten, 1882), 117 and ''Transactions of the American Institute of Homeopathy 1873'', Volume 26: 524-525.</ref> While many individual physicians opposed licensing, Rogers was able to garner support from a number of these organizations. The support of these institutions lent credibility to licensing efforts and the New York House and Senate to pass these medical licensing laws.

Ultimately, Governor John Thompson Hoffman vetoed the medical licensing bill, but this was one the earliest and most successful efforts to establish medical licensing in the United States. <ref>Stephen Rogers, M.D., “The New Medical Law of the State of New York,” ''New York Medical Journal'', Vol. XX, July 1874, No. 1: 70-72.</ref> The medical community's efforts to pass medical licensing did not occur in a vacuum. Physicians throughout the United States were remarkably well connected. Organizations such as the American Medical Association served as a hub for the national community. State and local organizations across the country quickly became aware of the attempt by New York's medical community to enact medical licensing. In other states, medical groups would quickly follow the lead of their New York brethren. Unlike the New York physicians, they started to become successful in their efforts to pass medical licensing medical legislation. Similiarly to the physicians in New York, they tied licensing to other unrelated public health measures such as stronger anti-abortion laws or sanitary legislation.<ref>Sandvick, Clinton (2016) ''Defining the Practice of Medicine: Licensing American Physicians, 1870-1907'' (2016).</ref>

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*[[What was the dominant medical sect in the United States during the 19th Century?]]

*[[How did Medicine develop in the Ancient World?]]

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