# A Serious Q for the Women - May be squicky for some **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2010, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510 "2010-07-13T08:42:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/41 "2010-07-14T01:42:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Despite popular belief, quinine is an ineffective abortifacient (in the US, quinine is listed as Pregnancy category D). Pregnant women who take toxic doses of quinine will suffer from renal failure before experiencing any kind of quinine-induced abortion. Geez, **usedtobe**! You shouldn’t believe every old wives’ tale you hear. Do people no longer think for themselves? Do we watch TV and call doing so “life”? For the sake of your gods, get off your intellectual butt and start thinking for yourself! Don’t expect some “expert” to do all your thinking for you! ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/42 "2010-07-14T02:56:14Z")
I think I’m a bit younger than the target age for this thread (I’m 34) but the only advice I ever got about an abortion was, “Go to a reputable clinic or doctor. I’ll help you in any way I can.” Never, ever anything about doing it myself. I know there were various methods used throughout human history but if it were necessary I’m sticking with qualified medical help. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/43 "2010-07-14T02:57:43Z")
**usedtobe** I don’t think you’re supposed to _smoke_ abortifacients. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/44 "2010-07-14T03:11:14Z")
I can’t add anything about methods of home abortions, but one of my great aunts qualified as a physician circa 1940. After WWII ended and she was dischared from the Army Medical Corp her first civilian job in in an emergency room. Five decades later and she’d still tell tales of girls (& occasionaly older women) brought in after bleeding to death after botched abortion attemps _followed by policemen_ who’d try to interrogate them while the staff was trying to treat them and keep them from dying. Often the policemen would just ignore her when she’d try to order them out, forcing her to call over a male doctor or one of the nurse-nuns (the older nuns were even more intimidating then male doctors). She said enemy soldiers got treated better than that. She ended up going into private practice. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/45 "2010-07-14T03:13:19Z")
Yeah, I know something about ways to induce miscarriage since I am in the medical field but no I have never traded tips on how to do it at the family dining room table. The risk of mortality from a self-induced abortion may have seemed acceptable in the old days when knowledge of things like antibiotics was so primitive that people died of all kinds of things that seem minor to modern people. Nowadays, I’d have to say that choosing to induce an abortion at home would be a good way to win a Darwin Award. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/46 "2010-07-14T03:31:59Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > For those who think that, for 1000’s of years, women ALWAYS just said “oh well” when faced with a socially and financially ruinious pregnancy: Show me where anyone in this thread said they thought that. It’s quite clear that this is not the case. The historical record shows that abortion was a popular and often legal means of dealing with pregnancies far into the past. > [@](#): > > Yes, these chemical/herbal solutions forced miscarriages - I doubt that all came down to forcing the body to dump the embryo in order to survive. Specifically name “these chemical/herbal solutions” you are talking about. > [@](#): > > Try quinine water by mouth and hot bath until you get a little red spot - the proper Southern ladies’ solution. The town pharmacist knew who was knocked up by who suddenly had urgent need for quinine. So you named one. It’s not “safe” or “effective” by modern standards. See the following article by doctors that appeared in a peer-reviewed medical journal, as just one cite for the fact that quinine is NOT an effective abortifacent and is known to have serious side effects: > [@](#): > > South Med J. 1983 Jul;76(7):846-9. > **Use of quinine for self-induced abortion.** > > Dannenberg AL, Dorfman SF, Johnson J. > > Abstract > > We present four recent cases in which quinine was used for self-induced abortion. Abortion was achieved in only one of these cases. Literature review suggests that quinine is an ineffective abortifacient, even when taken in toxic doses. Adverse effects of quinine include cinchonism, potentially fatal renal failure, and possible teratogenesis. Quinine is available over-the-counter, but it has few legitimate medical indications. Health care personnel treating women with undesired pregnancies should be alert to the signs and symptoms of quinine toxicity. > [@](#): > > I can’t believe adults would find it impossible to believe that such a serious problem as an unwanted pregnancy would have never been solved. By anyone. Anywhere. You accuse those of us who want specifics of being naive. Well, I think you are naive to think that pre-Roe, there was a very safe, highly effective, easily obtained, and easy to administer means of self-abortion. If such a thing existed, the fight for abortion rights in this country would not have been so protracted nor would (some) women hold the right to get a doctor to perform the procedure so dear. Sorry, didn’t see that someone else cited this article. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/47 "2010-07-14T06:13:14Z")
> [@](#): > > […]until you get a little red spot - the proper Southern ladies’ solution. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/48 "2010-07-14T08:53:38Z")
> [@Q.N.Jones](#): > > I’m with the people who say there can’t possibly be such a thing. Until someone offers concrete evidence to the contrary–like the name of an herb or a method–I’m going to assume that the OP and **Nava** are just playing games with us. > > “Oh, oh, I know a totally safe home abortion method!!! But it’s too shocking and secret to tell you!!!” :rolleyes: I did specify that the abortive method I knew of was NOT SAFE and could cause the woman’s death, so please LTR. It involves a mushroom that’s poisonous. The safe one is for avoiding pregnancy in the first place and it’s basically douching with an acidic solution (I know several recipes, but basically all amount to “douche with an acidic solution”) right after intercourse. As in, you go from “PiV” to “douche” without passing go, taking the 200 or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/49 "2010-07-14T13:16:08Z")
Wow, now we’re getting blamed for not coming up with a safe, reliable, effective abortion cure? While millions of women throughout time have desperately been trying to come up with something? I feel somehow…lacking. I must be stupid. I have not won a Nobel Prize in my spare time, either. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/50 "2010-07-14T13:43:01Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Being pushed down the stairs works sometimes too, but hardly qualifies as “safe” or “effective.” Works every time in the soap operas, though! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/51 "2010-07-14T14:48:54Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > Yeah, I know something about ways to induce miscarriage since I am in the medical field but no I have never traded tips on how to do it at the family dining room table. Exactly. My way of “passing on my knowledge” was to give a younger niece, when she was in high school, a copy of _Our Bodies, Ourselves_. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/52 "2010-07-14T15:23:52Z")
My Mother was a fine upstanding Southern GA girl, who “had” to get married. So know, I don’t think she knew how, adn she certainly didn’t tell me. My Irish GrandMother recommended a bottle of Bourbon and a hot bath though. . . I’ve also heard of nicotine overdose as an effective abortifacient, but don’t know anybody who’s tested it. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/53 "2010-07-14T16:52:01Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People used to drink gin and take hot baths, I guess. And a few years ago there was a case in town where some girl paid a guy a bunch of money to punch her in the stomach. So there’s that. Gin is made from juniper berries and juniper berries are supposed to “stimulate childbirth” which will lead to a miscarriage in early stages. They can be toxic in high doses, too. I did not learn this from my mother, I just used to read about herbal medicine a lot. We were good Catholics who weren’t supposed to do anything until we married and if you did you went away to stay with “relatives” for several months. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/54 "2010-07-14T17:51:58Z")
None of my female relatives ever said anything about home abortions (or birth control) to me. I learned about it when reading about women’s health in the middle ages. Considering how quickly maternal mortality and morbidity has dropped since the 1950’s in the USA, I can only imagine what horrors pre-modern women went through. “[The maternal mortality rate has declined dramatically since 1950 when the rate was 83.3 deaths per 100,000 live births; however, the maternal mortality rate in 2005 (15.1 per 100,000 live births) was 84 percent higher than the rate reported in 1990 (8.2 per 100,000).](http://mchb.hrsa.gov/whusa08/hstat/mh/pages/237mm.html)” ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/55 "2010-07-14T17:52:47Z")
The way I read it the OP is asking how the information is shared more than the what information is. I’m 41. The things I did hear along these lines were cautionary. “Before the war women used to…” and grew out of discussions re: Roe v. Wade. They weren’t in the vein of “Now that you’re a young woman you need to know” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/56 "2010-07-14T18:18:43Z")
There used to be tons of kids running around whorehouses. Do you honestly think that would have been the case if there were any way, pre legal surgical abortion, to safely and reliably terminate a pregnancy? ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/57 "2010-07-14T18:33:15Z")
On the website below they list all the ways to end a pregnancy. The way that shocked me was vitamin C! They have womens testimonials that these herbs work. I was just curious and found a lot of info. [http://www.sisterzeus.com/Abortif.htm](http://www.sisterzeus.com/Abortif.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/58 "2010-07-14T19:14:18Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I did specify that the abortive method I knew of was NOT SAFE and could cause the woman’s death, so please LTR. It involves a mushroom that’s poisonous. Thanks for sharing. Sorry I misread your post. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/59 "2010-07-14T19:48:40Z")
Just remmebered, I was also warned\* against\* using a coat hangar. I assume that this meant unbending it and poking the end up to break the water, but no actual instructions were given. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510/60 "2010-07-14T22:06:04Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > On the website below they list all the ways to end a pregnancy. The way that shocked me was vitamin C! They have womens testimonials that these herbs work. I was just curious and found a lot of info. > [http://www.sisterzeus.com/Abortif.htm](http://www.sisterzeus.com/Abortif.htm) There are plenty of testimonials that people are routinely kidnapped by space aliens too. Also, the natural abortion (“miscarriage”) rate is about 30%. So there could be a lot of coincidence happening when someone uses an herbal method (or hell, drinks stump water and turns in a widdershins circle three times) and subsequently the pregnancy ends. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-q-for-the-women-may-be-squicky-for-some/546510.md?page=4)