Abortion Methods

History of Abortion Methods

Although it cannot be known with certainty, women have probably been having abortions in some manner from the time of the earliest tribal societies. Anthropologist George Devereux's classic study of abortion in traditional societies showed that women in most of the tribal societies he studied used abortion to control fertility. In classical times, women used various herbal concoctions to induce abortion, and in medieval times, women were known to use “slippery elm” sticks which, inserted into the uterus, would swell up and cause contractions resulting in abortion. In the Middle Ages, a mold on rye produced ergot, a powerful alkaloid that caused uterine contractions. Ergot was used by women in small doses to cause uterine contractions, especially to control hemorrhage after childbirth. In larger doses, women used it in hope of causing an abortion.

In many tribal societies, abortions are caused by striking or jumping on the lower abdomen of a woman who is pregnant. Whether or not the woman requests this action to end a pregnancy, the violence can cause uterine rupture and immediate death. During the 19th and early 20th centuries in America, women famously used coat hangers, knitting needles, and other instruments to disrupt a pregnancy and cause an abortion. Other procedures by lay midwives included the placement of a balloon catheter through the uterine cervix and into the uterus. This was allowed to stay in place long enough to cause an abortion. All these techniques were and are inherently dangerous, especially when done under unsterile conditions. Perforation of the uterus by such an instrument could result in rapid death due to hemorrhage.

Other traumatic methods of self-abortion have included putting lye or other caustic substance in the vagina, throwing one's self down a flight of stairs, and taking toxic amounts of alcohol or other drugs. In Denver, in the late 1960s, a woman who was six months pregnant shot herself in the uterus to kill the fetus and then drove herself to the Denver General Hospital emergency room.

Modern Abortion Methods

With the advent of antibiotics and blood transfusion, it became possible to save the lives of women who had sought an unsafe illegal abortion or had attempted self-abortion. Physicians and lay practitioners alike learned to perform early abortions by dilation and [Page 16]curettage using modern surgical instruments. In a dilation and curettage (D & C), the cervix is dilated with a series of gradually larger metal rods that are tapered. Once the cervix is opened sufficiently to admit a curette, a spoon-shaped instrument whose tip is shaped like a loop, the sharp edge of the curette is brought along the wall of the uterus from the top (fundus) to the bottom (lower uterine segment just above the cervix). This stroke is repeated around the entire inner lining (endometrium) of the uterus until contents and lining of the uterus are removed.

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