Madam Restell was New York’s premiere abortionist for several decades prior to 1878, when she died of suicide, shortly after having been arrested under New York’s Comstock laws, which prohibited the sending of “obscene” materials by U.S. Mail. She operated out of a mansion on 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue and sold potions, powders, patent medicines and prophylactics, as well as performing exorbitantly priced abortions, mostly to the wealthy. The abortion by acupuncture that occurs in Metropolis is based on real traditional Chinese medical practice. Longstanding teachings and many contemporary practitioners hold that, just as acupuncture may promote or enhance fertility or encourage a breech fetus to move to a head-down position, it can be used at an early phase of pregnancy to make the body inhospitable to the growing embryo. One common method of abortion is to use strong acupuncture point stimulation of San Yin Chiao (SP6) in conjunction with He Gu (LI4). The abortion is generally realized within 24 hours.
