Today in Herstory: Force-Feedings Continue for Ethel Byrne

(the commissioner gets more arrogant and hateful by the day. continuing the force-feedings even after Byrne recovers?? angry because people on the outside are telling the truth about what goes on inside--cannot keep it secret anymore)


Today in Herstory: Force-Feedings Continue for Ethel Byrne

January 28, 1917: A regular schedule of force-feedings is being drawn up by Workhouse authorities for Ethel Byrne, now serving a 30-day sentence for giving out information on contraception last October at the nation’s first birth control clinic.


The clinic at 46 Amboy Street in Brooklyn when it was in operation from October 16th to the 26th of last year.

On October 26th, after providing services to at least 400 women since it opened ten days earlier, the clinic at 46 Amboy Street in Brooklyn was raided and closed by police for violating Section 1142 of the New York State Penal Code, which prohibits anyone from giving out information on contraception or actual birth control devices. Byrne’s trial was held before a three-judge panel on January 8th, with sentencing on the 22nd.

Ethel Byrne has been undergoing force-feeding three times a day since just after midnight yesterday morning. The procedure consists of having a rubber tube inserted through her mouth and into her esophagus while a pint of milk, two eggs, and a small amount of brandy are poured through a funnel.

********The authorities have announced that they will not end the feedings when Byrne has recovered from the immediate effects of her four-and-a-half day hunger strike. They will continue the ordeal until she agrees to eat and drink voluntarily. Commissioner of Correction Lewis has been besieged by telephone calls from people objecting to Byrne’s treatment, but he insists that it is nothing unusual:

“Mrs. Byrne is being fed because the law requires it. Forcible feeding is nothing to cause so much comment. It is an every day matter with us. We constantly get alcoholics and drug addicts who must be forcibly fed. We are not permitted to allow prisoners to commit suicide. The only difference between Mrs. Byrne and the others is that Mrs. Byrne has someone on the outside giving out statements about her and us.”

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/01/28/today-in-herstory-force-feedings-continue-for-ethel-byrne/