"Midwife Regulations. Blackmun’s claim that abortion was unrestricted until “well into the 19th century” not only distorted the common law and statutes in both England and America, but entirely ignored other sources of legal control over abortion. Municipal ordinances and regulations, for example, had long prohibited midwives, who almost exclusively handled reproductive matters, from performing or procuring abortion throughout pregnancy. These regulations existed in England as early as 1512 and were replicated in America long before independence. In July 1716, for example, the Common Council of New York City enacted a “Law Regulating Mid Wives within the City of New York.” It required midwives to take an oath not to “give any counsel or administer any...thing to any woman being with child” to induce a miscarriage or abortion."