Dame Margaret Sparrow has had a long career in general and reproductive health. She was awarded an MBE in 1987, the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal in 1993, and the DCNZM for services to medicine and the community in 2002, which in 2009 became a DNZM.
The women who had abortions in 19th century New Zealand are all long dead and little is known of their shortened lives. Most of what we know about them comes from coroners’ reports and newspaper accounts, and in many cases we know more about the abortionists than the women themselves. Those who survived had engaged in criminal activity so they were unlikely to talk about it. Abortion was not written about or mentioned in their correspondence to family and friends.
The information we have is biased towards events with a tragic ending but even this gives us some insight into the lives of ordinary women. At a time when contraception was frowned upon by the medical profession women obtained abortions by whatever means they could, despite the dangers of poisoning, haemorrhage and infection. Abortionists did their work despite the threat of long prison sentences.
Recorded at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 1 April 2015. Introduction by Neil Atkinson of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
The Platform: the radical legacy of the Polynesian Panthers
Crossing the lines: the story of three homosexual New Zealand soldiers in WW2
Reflecting on the value of social media as a history-research tool
Dissenting Voices – New Zealand and the South African War 1899–1902
Inside the Bubble
Kei roto i te miru: inside the bubble
‘Palmy Proud’? Audience and Approach in Writing the History of a Provincial City
Tamihana Te Rauparaha’s life of Te Rauparaha
Te Mana O Te Reo Māori
Unpacking the Suitcase
Māori women and the armed forces in WWII
Memorials, names and ethical remembering
‘Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance’
Wairoa Lockout: an oral history
Pūkana: moments in Māori performance
This Mortal Boy
100 years of the Tararua Tramping Club
The Hidden Women of the Public Stage
My Body, My Business
Ocean: tales of voyaging and encounter that defined New Zealand
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Dark Histories
The Best Song Podcast
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
The Rest Is History
American Scandal