I just saw this movie about an abortionist operating before abortion was legal.
The method used to induce miscarriage was to pump soapy water with disinfectant into the woman’s body via a rubber syringe (I don’t know if the syringe was inserted far enough to pump the water directly into the uterus or where exactly the water was directed but the syringe was inserted vaginally).
The woman is then told that in a day or two she will feel a sharp pain “down there” at which time she should “go to the toilet and it will all be alright”.
GQ#1: What exactly happens within the woman’s body in reaction to the soapy water?
GQ#2: Was this one of the more common methods? Whenever I’ve heard of “pre-legal” amateur abortions the stories have always centered on horrors like knitting needles or wire hangers.
GQ#3: The movie seems to suggest that, in a society where a legal abortion performed by a medical professional was not an option, this method would have been regarded as relatively safe. How “safe” is this method, what are the dangers? What complications could arise?
Well, I’m just a student nurse but I know that one of the more common types of enemas involve using soap and water (a soap suds enema) because the soapy water irritates the intestinal lining and dramatically increases peristalsis. The same theory could apply in the vaginal tract. Perhaps the soapy water disrupts the cervical “mucous plug” and causes premature birth. I seriously doubt that they penetrate the cervical plug during the procedure and get into the uterus.
Of course if this is correct it raises the question of why many women don’t have accidental abortions from taking soapy baths (of course the water is not forced up inside but the distinction is sufficiently close that I would think every thousand baths or so…). Of course pregnant women are advised not to take soapy bubble baths, but I thought that this was to minimize the risk of yeast infections the likelihood of which increase when a women is gravid due to the increased acidity of the vaginal tract.
I have no idea about how soapy water was used in illegal abortions. I do know that sometimes a saline solution is injected into the amniotic sac to induce abortion, assuming that the pregnancy is far enough along that it’s possible to find the sac. I was under the impression that most illegal abortions were of the D&C (dilate and curette) variety, in which the cervix is dilated and the walls of the uterus are scraped with a spoonlike instrument called a curette. This is a fairly simple procedure, from what I’ve read, and very safe…IF proper sterile techniques are used. Lack of sterility and unskilled/hasty abortionists caused a lot of complications. Apparently it’s fairly easy to poke a hole in the wall of the uterus with the scraping tool, which can lead to infection. Some abortionists were in it strictly for the money, and so would cut corners on anything they could. Others performed abortions because they felt it was right for women to have a choice. In either case, the abortions were usually performed in makeshift areas, which leads us to the problem of sterile technique again, and sometimes the abortionist didn’t have access to anesthesia, or didn’t want to involve someone else in the business.
There are also some drugs that will induce abortion, but I know very little about this topic.
Basically the use of liquids or douches was an adjunct to the actual effective abortion agent - the introduction of foreign bodies. Here is an informative site. It is kind of hard going as it is based on actual accounts.
A Higgonson syringe is what is used and one has to be VERY careful to not insert air into it, it has to be carefully inserted thru the cervical os and whatever liquid squeezed into the uterus gently. Not only was soapy water used but diluted Lysol, Dettol (anti-septic) and other anti-septic solutions were used because most women who knew enough to use this method also knew enough to try and control infection. Air bubbles and infections were the main reason this method wasn’t commonly used, it also it required anatomical knowledge most probably didn’t have.
