Champion of Women and the Unborn:

Horatio Robinson Storer, M.D.

By Frederick N. Dyer.

Science History Publications. 614 pp. $39.95.

Reviewed by Billy Lauinger

In Champion of Women and the Unborn: Horatio Robinson Storer, M.D., Frederick Dyer brings to life a tremendously important figure in the history of the American pro-life movement. The Horatio R. Storer we meet in this book is an utterly fearless physician, completely dedicated to preserving and improving the health of women, an outspoken man who takes on any and all comers in a long career that made him one of the most prominent physicians of the 19th century.

It would be difficult to exaggerate Dr. Storer's role in combating abortion, even though he is not well known today. More or less single-handedly, Storer (1830-1922) started what one historian labeled the "physicians' crusade against abortion." In 1857 Storer enlisted the then-fledgling American Medical Association (AMA), which appointed him the chair of a committee to look into the status of induced abortion in the United States.

Two years later, with the assistance of seven prominent physicians whom he helped select, Storer produced a report that was unanimously adopted by the AMA. Among other recommendations, the report called for enacting laws in every state against abortion.

But Storer was just getting started. During 1859, Storer used the pages of the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review to compose nine scientific articles in favor of the initiatives that had come out of the AMA.

According to Joseph W. Koterski, S.J.,

Besides these legal and political efforts, Storer recognized the need to change the minds and hearts of those who sought or acquiesced in abortion. In 1865 he published a popular book entitled Why Not? A Book for Every Woman designed to convince the reader of both the criminality and the deleterious effect of induced abortion upon women. A year later he produced Is It I? A Book for Every Man. Both volumes sold in the thousands. James Mohr's Abortion in America (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1978, pp. 240-41) credits these books with a significant decrease in the number of abortions among married women.

Nearly every state legislature and territory went on to pass laws protecting the unborn. Most of these protective laws remained in effect until the Supreme Court obliterated all abortion laws in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

But Dyer's presentation of Storer is not important to the American anti-abortion movement only because of its portrait of Storer's immense legislative impact. For, in bringing Storer to life, Dyer also provides today's pro-life movement with a historical figure from which they can draw inspiration. Dr. Storer not only faced similar and formidable obstacles, but his ceaseless commitment to the unborn also sustained his efforts and made possible his remarkable successes.

For instance, just as is the case with today's pro-life movement, Storer faced strong and outspoken opposition. He endured harsh criticism from doctors who believed that abortion should be a taboo subject; from doctors who held that the general public felt that abortion in the early months of pregnancy ought not be legally banned (and would not change its mind, thus making it impractical to push for legislation against such abortions); and from doctors who believed that directly influencing legislation was an action outside of their occupational domain and, thus, an inappropriate activity.

But through all of this, Storer fought to educate members of Congress, physicians, and all others about a basic embryological fact: The unborn human child is alive from conception onward as a distinct human being. Consequently, such children ought to have legal protection against abortion beginning at conception.

Of course, Dyer's biography of Storer goes far beyond detailing Storer's contributions to the American pro-life movement. Indeed, Dyer's work also chronicles Storer's pioneering role in the field of gynecology, as well as discussing several other interesting facets of a remarkable physician who was deeply dedicated to the health of women and unborn children.

Building on the pioneering work of Dr. Storer, the American pro-life movement is stronger than ever. The same movement in which Storer played (and through Dyer's work still plays) an absolutely crucial role is today alive, well, and ceaselessly committed to the cause of unborn children.

The book can be purchased by going to Amazon.com and typing in Horatio Storer as your search item.