Juliet Hall Worth Stillman Severance (1 July 1833 in De Ruyter, Madison County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

– 3 September 1919 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

) was an American physician and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

of the 19th century.

Biography

Julie H. Severance married twice and had three children. She is a relative to abolitionist and suffragist

Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (née Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quakers, Quaker, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position ...

. She was one of the first woman physicians of the United States, having graduated in 1858 from Russell Trall’s Hygeio-Therapeutic College in New York. Severance later moved to

Whitewater, Wisconsin Whitewater is a city located in Walworth and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located near the southern portion of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Whitewater is the home of the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. As of t ...

where she opened her medical practice. She opposed

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

and

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and supported the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

. She was the leader of several Labour organizations. She participated in several anti-slavery, water-cure, dress reform, and dietary reform movements. In the biographical dictionary ''Women of the Century'' (1893), she is called "a radical of the radicals" and also "a model mother and a housekeeper". She campaigned for women rights and the right to life of the unborn child, believing that marriage and motherhood should be affirming choices for women. In her article, "Is the Present Marriage System a Failure?", published in the progressive Chicago newspaper ''Universe'' on 28 August 1869, she states: "Marriage should be a soul-union, not a curse ... not a merging of one life into another, but ... two individuals uniting their lives for mutual good and the good of humanity — it may be in reproduction, or it may be in giving birth to higher, nobler ideas, and outworking them in noble deeds and grand achievements .... There is not a child in a hundred that is begotten with the consent of the mother. As the present marriage system makes man the owner of woman — her legal master — she is expected to submit to his gratification .... When the marriage system is what it should be, and woman controls in these matters, instead of man ... Restellism bortionshall cease, because there will be no demand for it."

Works

Her works centered around the idea of marriage equating a form of slavery, the women's rights to take control of their health and the ideology that men should be held at the same standard as women.
A Lecture on Industrial and Financial Problems (1881)

References

External links

*
Juliet Stillman Severance Obituary at the New York Times

Profile of Juliet Stillman Severance at Feminists for Life Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Severance, Juliet Stillman 1833 births 1919 deaths 19th-century American physicians American feminists 19th-century American women physicians Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century