Herbal Abortion

Herbal abortion, a do-it-yourself method of inducing abortion with herbs, is perhaps the most dangerous of all abortion methods. And if something goes wrong, there's no one to hold responsible.

Two of the most common abortifacients (herbs taken to induce abortion) are Pennroyal (Mentha pulegium) and Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides). Pennroyal is used in pesticides, and Blue Cohosh is frequently used to relieve menstrual cramps, ease the pain of childbirth, as a diuretic to eliminate excess fluids, as an expectorant to treat congestion, and as a diaphoretic to eliminate toxins by inducing sweating.

Pennroyal

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"Doctors and herbalists say they are 'concerned' about the 'increased interest' in the herb called pennyroyal as a 'natural' abortion method. Pennyroyal's reputation as an abortifacient makes it a 'more appealing alternative to an operation at a clinic.' Bastyr University botanical medicine chair Lise Alschuler: 'Pennyroyal oil has a long folk history as an abortifacient. It isn't really. In most cases, it fails to induce abortion. What women are doing in these cases is creating such high toxicity that their own body is unable to sustain the pregnancy... If pennyroyal oil is to work as an abortifacient, it's going to work because it's poisoning the mother.

"Eastside Hospital obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Sandra Sultan treated a woman who said she drank pennyroyal tea 'three times a day for a week to end a six-week pregnancy.' Sultan: 'Within hours after I first saw her, she was bleeding from every orifice. I've never seen anything like it.' The woman then went into kidney and liver failure and was in a coma for weeks. Sultan says she is now recovering, 'but may still need treatment for potential neurological damage from bleeding in the brain.' Sultan says the woman still required a surgical abortion...

"Herbalist Eric Pollard said pennyroyal oil is a 'highly toxic oil, used mostly as a pesticide.' It can kill 'if less than a teaspoon is ingested.' Pollard: 'When we sell the pennyroyal oil, we make it very clear that this is not for internal use.' FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition spokesperson Judy Folke said the agency has listed pennyroyal as a 'flavoring.' Folke said the FDA can take action about pennyroyal 'only if the agency can prove that the herbal product can cause harm when taken as recommended, which is difficult to do.'"

Blue Cohosh

Experienced herbalists say Blue Cohosh should never be taken by pregnant women, and even authors of books about herbal abortion say it isn't necessarily safe and it isn't easy.

Herbal abortifacients are unregulated by the FDA and can vary in potency and effect. They are "toxic in excess and can easily overtax the liver and kidneys, causing headaches, extreme nausea, bleeding, or even death. Women at particular risk are those with high blood pressure, epilepsy, allergies, diabetes, liver, heart or kidney problems, an IUD or recent PID (pelvic inflammatory disease), and women taking other drugs as these may aggravate existing medical problems or dangerously alter the way the herbs are intended to work." - Source: Westside Pregnancy Center

Pharmacist, Karen L. Brauer M.S., R.Ph., says "Bleeding out in an unsupervised setting is a common problem with do-it-yourself abortions. A slow chemical abortion can be even more traumatic emotionally than a surgical procedure."

There are alternatives to abortion. Learn more here.