17 things that would get you accused of witchcraft in 1692

[Cleita]

12. Research I did years ago suggests that the emerging profession of

male doctors at the end of the Middle Ages was responsible for that. It was during the rise of the Great Universities that were sponsored by the church that doctors were trained as physicians at those universities. They saw the female midwives and herbalists, many who were illiterate and taught their craft by word of mouth, as a threat to their profession so being they were clerics or in the lower ranks of priestly Holy Orders, they literally went on a witch hunt for these women.

All the links I had then no longer exist, but I'm sure the information is out there along with a lot of history about when abortion became a sin.