I've written about the lie that Susan B. Anthony opposed abortion. She did not. Like many people before Roe v. Wade, she didn't really care about it as a political issue. https://www.salon.com/2017/02/13/conservatives-sure-love-progressives-and-radicals-at-least-after-theyre-dead/

It's true that Anthony wrote privately about abortion (which was very common in the 19th century) in judgemental tones. But she was even more judgemental of women who had lots of children! She mostly just thought sex with men was weird and didn't get why some women like it.

Anthony basically was neither anti nor pro-choice so much as she just thought the whole sex business was silly and best ignored. Her best friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, spoke openly of a woman's right to choose whether to give birth.

Looking to the 19th century for wisdom on 21st century debates over abortion is even weirder when you consider a couple of facts: 1) Abortion was probably the most common form of birth control and used more than it is now then and....

2) It was largely banned because medical doctors were trying to push midwives out of business, and abortion was a big part of midwifery. But they weren't really leaning on "life" arguments, so much as Victorian squeamishness about sex.

The main thing to understand is that most 19th century feminists opposed forced childbirth. It was called the "voluntary motherhood" movement, and shows that from day one, the anti-choice argument that forced childbirth is no oppresssion of women was rejected.