The Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum is kicking off its 2021 virtual lectures with a “provocative” series that will explore 19th-century perspectives on abortion.

The series, called An Atrocious and Abominable Offence, tells the tales of five distinct abortion trials from mid-19th century Victorian England to “illustrate the dizzying attitudes, language and control practised by the anti-abortionists and medical professionals of the day,” the museum said in a media release.

The trials were diligently recorded in The Lancet, one of the world's oldest and best-known medical journals. This gave a public and highly respected voice to the doctors’ dilemma.

The series will be hosted by Amanda Balyk, who works as the museum's Tiny Museum co-ordinator. The series kicks off Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 11 a.m.

Balyk is also high school teacher in Niagara and recent graduate of Brock University, with a master's degree history. Her areas of interest are 19th-century British crime and gender.

The museum said the series will be “provocative and illuminating.”

“(Balyk) brings a unique retrospect on the lesser-known aspects of mid-Victorian medical history,” it said.

“The practice of abortion has been controversial for thousands of years, with laws that have banned it, approved it, banished those who practised it and even condemned others to death.”

Anyone interested in attending can register via the events page on the museum's website, www.nhsm.ca.