Horatio Robinson Storer was a surgeon and anti-abortion activist in the 1800s who worked in the field of women’s reproductive health and led the Physicians’ Crusade Against Abortion in the US. Historians credit Storer as being one of the first physicians to distinguish gynecology, the study of diseases affecting women and their reproductive health, as a separate subject from obstetrics, the study of pregnancy and childbirth. Storer was one of the first physicians to successfully perform a Caesarian section, or the removal of the fetus through a surgical incision, followed by the removal of the woman’s uterus, a procedure which would later be known as Porro’s operation. Storer was also an anti-abortion activist who believed that public attitudes toward abortion were too relaxed and that the laws did not effectively punish what he deemed to be the criminal act of abortion. Historians credit Storer with leading the Physicians’ Crusade Against Abortion, which they consider largely responsible for the increase in laws criminalizing abortion in the late 1800s.

Vincenz Czerny was a surgeon in the nineteenth century who specialized in cancer and women’s surgical care. Czerny performed one of the first breast augmentations using a reconstruction method to correct asymmetry and disfigurement of a woman’s breasts. Additionally, Czerny improved the safety and efficacy of existing operations, such as the vaginal hysterectomy, which involves the surgical removal of some or all of a woman’s reproductive structures. He contributed to other surgeries involving the esophagus, kidneys, and intestines. He was also one of the first individuals to research alternative methods of cancer treatment and founded the Institut für Experimentelle Krebsforschung (Institute for Experimental Cancer Research), in Heidelberg, Germany. The institute became one of the first hospitals dedicated solely to the study of cancer. Czerny’s development of the breast augmentation and vaginal hysterectomy, as well as his cancer research, helped shape the creation of modern-day surgical procedures.

James Marion Sims developed a surgical cure for ruptures of the wall separating the bladder from the vagina during labor, ruptures called vesico-vaginal fistulas, and he developed techniques and tools used to improve reproductive examinations and health care for women in the US during the nineteenth century. Sims's lateral examination position allowed doctors to better see the vaginal cavity, and his speculum, a spoon-like object used for increased view into the vagina, helped to make gynecological examinations more thorough. Sims helped ease the physical and social strains of post-birth women who suffered from vesico-vaginal fistulas, and he established the first hospital in New York City, New York, dedicated solely to treating women and improving women's health care.

A vaginal speculum is a medical device that allows physicians and health providers to better view a woman’s cervix and vagina during pelvic exams. Most specula are made of metal and plastic, and physicians insert a portion of the speculum into the patient’s vagina to separate the vaginal walls. Physicians have used devices to view inside a woman’s vagina for centuries, but physicians did not begin using what is known as a speculum in the twenty-first century until the 1800s. Prior to the invention of the modern speculum, health specialists struggled to find a way to view the cervix and vaginal walls. Because of that, health specialists could not accurately diagnose medical problems that were occurring in those tissues. Therefore, the speculum has enabled healthcare professionals to provide women with better gynecological diagnoses and care.

During the mid-twentieth century, Virginia Apgar worked as an obstetrical anesthesiologist and gave drugs to women that reduced their pain during childbirth in the US. In 1953, Apgar created a scoring system, called the Apgar score, that uses five measurements, including heart rate and breathing rate. The Apgar score evaluates newborn infants and determines who needs immediate medical attention. Apgar's work helped decrease infant mortality rates. As of 2020, hospitals around the world use the Apgar score.

Robert Lawson Tait was a physician who practiced abdominal surgery in the United Kingdom during the late nineteenth century. Physicians and historians credit Tait with introducing a number of gynecologic surgeries, or surgeries related to women’s reproductive health. Those included procedures for treating abscesses, removing ovaries, and fallopian tubes, and treatment of the gallbladder. Beyond his work as a surgeon, Tait advocated against vivisection, which is the practice of medical experimentation on living animals. Tait also argued for strict cleanliness during surgery as well as a more specific focus on performing surgeries to treat diseases of the female reproductive system. Tait’s surgical techniques and advocacy not only aided in the development of hygiene in surgery, increasing patient survival, but also helped develop the field of gynecology, which contributed to a centralized focus on the health of the female reproductive system.

The Gräfenberg spot, or the G-spot, is thought to be an area in the anterior, or front, vaginal wall that contributes to sexual pleasure. Ernst Gräfenberg became one of the first individuals to discuss the G-spot in 1950, and he claimed that the area is a distinct part of the vagina that plays a key role in orgasm. In 1981, researchers echoed Gräfenberg’s conclusion about the area’s existence and function, and they named it the Gräfenberg spot, or G-spot, after him. As of 2024, the media often portrays the G-spot as an area that is well-characterized, but scientific data on the G-spot is actually fairly inconclusive. Though researchers agree that the G-spot contributes to sexual pleasure in some individuals, they continue to debate about its functions and characteristics. Scientific debate about the G-spot produced research that has helped people to better understand the anatomical elements of the female orgasm, thus improving medical knowledge of female sexual health and pleasure.