Horatio Robinson Storer

Horatio Robinson Storer (February 27, 1830 – September 18, 1922) was an American physician, numismatist, and anti-abortion activist. He is considered the leader of the Physicians' Crusade Against Abortion, which historians "consider largely responsible for the increase in laws criminalizing abortion in the late 1800s."

Early life and medical career

Storer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended the Boston Latin School, Harvard College, and the Harvard Medical School. After obtaining his M.D. in 1853, he traveled to Europe and spent a year studying with James Young Simpson at Edinburgh.

In 1855, Storer began medical practice in Boston with an emphasis on obstetrics and gynecology. In 1865, Storer won an American Medical Association (AMA) prize for his essay, which was aimed at informing women about the moral and physical problems of induced abortion. Published as Why Not? A Book for Every Woman, it was widely sold, and many physicians distributed it to patients who requested abortion. In 1869, Storer founded the Gynaecological Society of Boston, the first medical society devoted exclusively to gynecology, and he published the first gynecology academic journal, the Journal of the Gynaecological Society of Boston. According to biographer Frederick N. Dyer, Storer "probably did more to found gynecology as a science and

medical specialty than any other American physician." After his retirement from practice in 1872, he became an authority on and a notable collector of medallions of medical interest. In 1869, Storer, who had been raised in a Unitarian family, became an Episcopalian. A decade later, he became a Roman Catholic "because of the church’s strict stance against abortion."