‘Plain historical falsehoods’: How amicus briefs bolstered Supreme Court conservatives - POLITICO

"The court adopted a flawed interpretation of abortion criminalization that has been pressed by anti-abortion advocates for more than thirty years," they wrote. 

A trio of scholars of medieval history also denounced Alito's argument as misrepresenting the penalties involved related to abortion. The Latin word "crimen" was more akin to a sin that would be "absolved through penance" before the Church — and not a felony, said Sara McDougall, a scholar of medieval law, gender and justice at City University of New York Graduate Center. Further, the meaning of "abortion" often involved "beating a pregnant woman" and was so broad it covered infanticide, she said. 

"There's not one felony prosecution for abortion in 13th century England. The church sometimes (but not always) imposed penance — but usually when the intent was to conceal sexual infidelity," said McDougall, who was one of the three medieval scholars. Indeed, this medieval doctrine persisted for hundreds of years until Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1869 that life began at conception, they wrote...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/03/supreme-court-amicus-briefs-leonard-leo-00127497