Abortifacient - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

An abortifacient is a substance that induces abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

. Abortifacients for animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

s that have mated

Mating

In biology, mating is the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for copulation. In social animals, it also includes the raising of their offspring. Copulation is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization...

undesirably are known as mismating shots.

Common abortifacients used in performing medical abortion

Medical abortion

A medical abortion is a type of non-surgical abortion in which abortifacient pharmaceutical drugs are used to induce abortion. An oral preparation for medical abortion is commonly referred to as an abortion pill....

s include mifepristone

Mifepristone

Mifepristone is a synthetic steroid compound used as a pharmaceutical. It is a progesterone receptor antagonist used as an abortifacient in the first months of pregnancy, and in smaller doses as an emergency contraceptive. During early trials, it was known as RU-38486 or simply RU-486, its...

, which is typically used in conjunction with misoprostol

Misoprostol

Misoprostol is a drug that is used for the prevention of non steroidal anti inflammatory drug induced gastric ulcers, for early abortion, to treat missed miscarriage, and to induce labor. The latter use is controversial in the United States. Misoprostol was invented and marketed by G.D...

in a two-step approach. There are also several herbal mixtures with abortifacient claims, though there are no available data on the efficacy of these plants in humans.

Pharmaceutical abortifacients

Prostaglandin analogue

Synthetic prostaglandin analogues are molecules which are manufactured to bind to a prostaglandin receptor.Wider use of prostaglandin analogues is limited by unwanted side effects and their abortive potential.-Uses:...

s, such as misoprostol

Misoprostol

or gemeprost

Gemeprost

Gemeprost is an analogue of prostaglandin E1.-Clinical use:It is used as a treatment for obstetric bleeding.It is used with RU486 to terminate pregnancy up to 24 weeks gestation...

(both synthetic prostaglandin

Prostaglandin

A prostaglandin is any member of a group of lipid compounds that are derived enzymatically from fatty acids and have important functions in the animal body. Every prostaglandin contains 20 carbon atoms, including a 5-carbon ring....

E₁ (PGE₁) analogues), are often used to terminate pregnancy up to 24 or 60 days of gestation, in combination with mifepristone

Mifepristone

(a progesterone receptor antagonist) or methotrexate

Methotrexate

Methotrexate , abbreviated MTX and formerly known as amethopterin, is an antimetabolite and antifolate drug. It is used in treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases, ectopic pregnancy, and for the induction of medical abortions. It acts by inhibiting the metabolism of folic acid. Methotrexate...

(an antifolate

Antifolate

Antifolates are drugs that impair the function of folic acids. Many are used in cancer chemotherapy, some are used as antibiotics or antiprotozoal agents....

). Misoprostol administered vaginally is more effective than when administered orally. Misoprostol is approved in France under the trade name GyMiso for use with mifepristone for medical abortion

Medical abortion

. Misoprostol is used off-label

Off-label use

Off-label use is the practice of prescribing pharmaceuticals for an unapproved indication or in an unapproved age group, unapproved dose or unapproved form of administration...

with mifepristone for medical abortion in the U.S. Dinoprostone

Dinoprostone

The naturally occurring prostaglandin E2 is known in medicine as dinoprostone. It has important effects in labour and also stimulates osteoblasts to release factors that stimulate bone resorption by osteoclasts...

, given by the extra-amniotic route, can be used for late abortion (second trimester).

Mifepristone

Mifepristone

is a progesterone receptor antagonist also known as RU-486. It is marketed under the trade name Mifegyne in France and countries other than the U.S., and under the trade name Mifeprex in the U.S. It is used in conjunction with a prostaglandin analogue.

Misoprostol alone is sometimes used for self-induced abortion

Self-induced abortion

A self-induced abortion is an abortion performed by the pregnant woman herself outside the recognized medical system. Although the term can include abortions induced through legal, over-the-counter medication, it also refers to efforts to terminate a pregnancy through alternative, often more...

in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n countries where legal abortion is not available, and by some people in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

who cannot afford a legal abortion

Abortion

Natural abortifacients

Numerous non-pharmaceutial abortifacients existed during the pre-pharmaceutical era. These included herbal, mineral, and ritualistic or spiritual preparations. The effectiveness thereof is difficult to determine, as almost all such uses occurred before the days of clinical trials and the scientific method

Scientific method

Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...

. Of those that remain in use in the modern day, some are considered effective to a lesser or greater degree; while others are very effective, but carry negative side effects (primarily toxicity) which keep them from wider prevalence.

Today, many herbs and plants sold "over the counter

Over-the-counter drug

Over-the-counter drugs are medicines that may be sold directly to a consumer without a prescription from a healthcare professional, as compared to prescription drugs, which may be sold only to consumers possessing a valid prescription...

" are claimed to act as abortifacients, either by themselves or if taken in certain doses or mixtures. Examples include brewer's yeast, vitamin C

Vitamin C

Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...

, bitter melon

Bitter melon

Momordica charantia, called bitter melon or bitter gourd in English, is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit, which is among the most bitter of all fruits...

, wild carrot

Wild carrot

Daucus carota is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe, southwest Asia and naturalised to northeast North America and Australia; domesticated carrots are cultivars of a subspecies, Daucus carota subsp...

, blue cohosh

Blue Cohosh

Blue cohosh a species of Caulophyllum and family Berberidaceae, also called squaw root or papoose root, is a flowering plant in the Berberidaceae family...

, pennyroyal

Pennyroyal

Pennyroyal refers to two plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. For the American species, see American pennyroyal. The European pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium, , is a plant in the mint genus, within the family Lamiaceae. Crushed Pennyroyal leaves exhibit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint...

, nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...

, mugwort, slippery elm

Slippery Elm

Ulmus rubra, the Slippery Elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America...

, papaya

Papaya

The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...

, vervain, common rue

Rue

Rue is a genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs 20–60 cm tall, in the family Rutaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia and southwest Asia. There are perhaps 8 to 40 species in the genus...

, ergot

Ergot

Ergot or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus Claviceps. The most prominent member of this group is Claviceps purpurea. This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals who consume grains contaminated with its...

, saffron

Saffron

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...

and tansy

Tansy

Tansy is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant of the aster family, native to temperate Europe and Asia. It has been introduced to other parts of the world and in some areas has become invasive...

. Animal studies

Animal studies

Animal studies is a recently recognized field in which animals are studied in a variety of cross-disciplinary ways. Scholars from fields as diverse as: art history, anthropology, biology, film studies, geography, history, psychology, literary studies, museology, philosophy, and sociology; and from...

have shown that pomegranate

Pomegranate

The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...

may be an effective abortifacient.

History

The ancient Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

colony of Cyrene

Cyrene, Libya

Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...

at one time had an economy based almost entirely on the production and export of silphium

Silphium

Silphium was a plant that was used in classical antiquity as a rich seasoning and as a medicine. It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant...

, considered a powerful abortifacient. Silphium figured so prominently in the wealth of Cyrene that the plant appeared on coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

s minted there. Silphium, which was native only to that part of Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

, was overharvested by the Greeks

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

and was effectively driven to extinction. The standard theory, however, has been challenged by a whole spectrum of alternatives (from an extinction due to climate factors, to the so-coveted product being in fact a recipe made of a composite of herbs, attribution to a single species meant perhaps as a disinformation

Disinformation

Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...

attempt).

In aboriginal Australia, plants such as cymbidium madidum

Cymbidium madidum

The Northern Cymbidium is a species of plant in the Orchidaceae family, also known as the Buttercup Orchid and Moist Forest Cymbidium....

, petalostigma pubescens

Petalostigma pubescens

Petalostigma pubescens, known as the quinine bush is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It was first described by the botanist Karel Domin in 1930....

, Eucalyptus gamophylla were ingested or the body/vagina was smoked with Erythropleum chlorostachyum.

As Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

and in particular the institution of the Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

Church increasingly influenced European society, those who dispensed abortifacient herbs found themselves classified as witches and were often persecuted (see witch-hunt

Witch-hunt

A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...

).

Medieval Muslim physicians documented detailed and extensive lists of birth control

Birth control

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

practices, including the use of abortifacients, commenting on their effectiveness and prevalence. The use of abortifacients was acceptable to Islamic jurists

Ulema

Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...

provided that the abortion occurs within 120 days, the point when the fetus is considered to become fully human and receive its soul.

In English law, abortion did not become illegal until 1803. English folk practice before and after that time held that fetal life was not present until quickening

Quickening

Quickening is the earliest perception of fetal movement by a mother during pregnancy Quickening may also refer to:* Quickening , Final Fantasy XIIs incarnation of "Limit Breaks"...

. "Women who took drugs before that time would describe their actions as 'restoring the menses' or 'bringing on a period'." Abortifacients used by women in England in the 19th century (not necessarily safe or effective) included diachylon

Diachylon

Diachylon , also rendered diachylum or diaculum, was originally a kind of medicament made of the juices of several plants , but now commonly the name for lead-plaster, emplastrum plumbi—a plaster made of lead oxide boiled together with olive oil and water...

, savin

Savin

Savin may refer to:* Juniperus sabina, a shrubby juniper plant* Junipers that are members of Juniperus sect. Sabina, scale-leaf junipers* Savin , a photocopier company acquired by Ricoh...

, ergot

Ergot

of rye, pennyroyal

Pennyroyal

, slippery elm

Slippery Elm

Ulmus rubra, the Slippery Elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America...

, nutmeg

Nutmeg

, rue

Rue

, squills, and hiera picra.

Pharmaceutical abortifacients

Natural abortifacients

History

See also