Governing souls, even after death. C-sections and medicalisation in the 18th century

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse a royal cédula issued in the American territories of the Kingdom of Spain which established the obligation to perform a caesarean section every time the ‘mother’ died before giving birth. The aim was to baptise the unborn foetuses in order to guarantee them eternal life. This, together with other contemporary sources, reflects an incipient medicalisation of pregnancy, expressed in disciplinary documents and governmental orders. Both the medical/religious discussions regarding the beginning of life, and those that attempted to determine how to act in response to the death of pregnant bodies, demonstrate the development during the Bourbon period of certain governmental views on bodies in general, but particularly on women.