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[[File:466px-John_T._Hoffman_(portrait_by_Jacob_Lazarus).png|thumbnail|190pxleft|250px|John T. Hoffman Governor of New York vetoed the medical licensing law]]
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In 1872, American physicians were not licensed anywhere in the United States. Medicine was completely unregulated and anyone could claim to be a physician. Most American physicians could be classified as either a regulars, homeopaths or eclectics. These three medical sects were in brutal competition with each other. Regulars were part of medical sect that could trace its roots to ancient Rome. Homeopaths and eclectics were part of medical sects that had been founded in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The ineffectiveness of Regular medical practice encouraged people to explore new medical ideas that led to the creation for distinct medical sects. These new medical groups found willing patients who were understandably skeptical of traditional medicine.
==Establishing Medical Licensing==
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>
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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.
Rogers, along with other members of the Regular sect, accepted that the state’s failure to regulate physicians permitted abortionists to prosper. An East River Medical Association of New York report discussing abortion argued that “the unrestricted practice of medicine was the main case for the existence of professional abortionists.” The report contended that only medical licensing could eliminate abortion.<ref>James C. Mohr, ''Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy'', (Oxford University Press, 1978), 160, citing the East River Medical Association, Report of the Special Committee Criminal Abortions, (New York, 1871), 3-4.</ref> While Rogers concluded that strengthening the penalties for criminal abortion were important, he argued that only medical licensing had the power to stop abortions. Rogers, along with most Regular physicians, believed that most abortionists could not meet even minimum medical licensing requirements. Even if a licensing board did give an abortionist a license, the state’s Regulars contended that strong licensing board should be granted the power to revoke licenses for unprofessional behavior, such as performing abortions.
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, http://books.google.com/ebooks and ''Transactions of the American Institute of Homeopathy 1873'', Volume 26: 524-525, http://books.google.com/ebooks.</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.
==Conclusion==
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, http://books.google.com/ebooks.</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>Article is a portion of an unpublished dissertation by Sandvick, Clinton (20132016)''Defining the Practice of Medicine: Licensing American Physicians: 1865, 1870-1907'' University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. This portion of the dissertation is reproduced here with the permission of the author(2016).</ref> ==References==<references/> [[Category:Wikis]] [[Category:United States History]] [[Category:19th Century History]] [[Category:Medical History]] {{Contributors}}
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==References==
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[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:United States History]] [[Category:19th Century History]] [[Category:Medical History]]
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