history of birth control, Ireland, attitudes to birth control and contraception, abortion, Michael Ryan, Thomas Haslam, Rev Samuel Hemphill, gender and birth control, fear of pregnancy and social control, sexuality, attitudes to women, women's roles
This chapter examines three treatises on birth control by Irish writers [medical doctor Michael Ryan (d. 1840), feminist Thomas Haslam (1825-1917) and Church of Ieland clergyman Rev. Samuel Hemphill (1859–-1927) ]. Published during the century before sale of contaceptives was banned in Ireland, in1935, these works provide insights into assumptions about women's roles, nineteenth century contraceptive methods and anxieties about the impact of contraception on social control and public morality shared by the churches and the state.