Dr. Anna E. Broomall: Advancing Care and Careers for Women

In 1869 a group of students from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) in Philadelphia attended a clinical lecture at the Pennsylvania Hospital. This marked the first time at the hospital that women were permitted to attend such a lecture alongside male medical students. Unfortunately, the women were unable to finish the first lecture as they were chased out of the amphitheater with heckling, catcalls, spitballs and outright aggression by their male classmates; however, the women returned to finish the lecture series and received apologies from at least some of the men. Newspapers of the time published widely polarizing articles both supporting and criticizing the women. To the students, faculty and alumni of WMCP, the event became known as “The Jeering Episode.”

One of the women attending the lecture was Anna E. Broomall (1847–1931), a trailblazer in the medical field for women practitioners. She opened one of the nation’s first out-patient maternity clinics and advocated to improve patient care standards, especially for women.

Anna E. Broomall, groundbreaking obstetrician, teacher and surgeon.
Delaware County Historical Society

Broomall was born in 1847 in Upper Chichester Township, Delaware County, to a Quaker family who supported higher education for women. Initially wanting to be a lawyer, Broomall opted instead to pursue a medical degree, as women were not yet permitted into law schools. After graduating from WMCP in 1871, she studied in Europe, where she witnessed superior care and treatment for patients, particularly women during pregnancy, childbirth and after birth. This inspired her to advocate for better patient treatment in the U.S.

When she returned from Europe, Broomall took a position as professor in obstetrics with WMCP in 1875. There she provided women medical and nursing students with the most up-to-date training. In 1888 she began the college’s Out Practice Maternity Department, so that students could gain practical experience in midwifery. Located in South Philadelphia, the clinic implemented a system of patient-centered care and the use of antiseptics and innovative delivery procedures, such as episiotomies and cesarean sections. These practices led to a decrease in mortality and serious injuries, especially important for the at-risk community in South Philadelphia.

At WMCP, Broomall built upon her first-choice career path and initiated mock trials for hypothetical infanticide cases in the spring of 1892. These trials supplemented Broomall’s lectures and provided students practice in giving medical testimony and presenting medical evidence to juries.

In 1903 Broomall retired to Chester in a house that once stood on Widener University’s campus. The Pennsylvania Historical Marker for Dr. Anna E. Broomall was installed at 13th and Chestnut streets on the campus and was dedicated on March 26, 2019.

Alli Davis is the coordinator of the Pennsylvania Historical Marker Program.