Ephraim McDowell was an US abdominal surgeon who in 1809 performed one of the first successful ovarian surgeries. McDowell conducted his medical practice in Danville, Kentucky, where he used novel methods of ovariotomy to remove a twenty-two and a half pound ovarian tumor from his patient, Jane Crawford. At the time, surgeons performed ovariotomies by making an incision into each patient’s ovary to remove a mass. However, their patients often died from infection or blood loss. McDowell’s methods included making an incision into the abdominal muscles, draining the abdomen of blood, and using adhesives with sutures to close the wound. McDowell performed one of the first invasive abdominal surgeries in which the patient survived, and his surgical techniques established the potential safety and efficacy of ovarian and abdominal surgery in the 1800s.

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.

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.