Self-induced abortion
Encyclopedia
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 dangerous means. Such practices are illegal in most jurisdictions—even where abortion itself is legal—and may present a grave threat to the life of a woman. An unsuccessful attempt to induce such an abortion can also cause lasting damage to the fetus. Currently this is fairly common where abortion is illegal or unavailable, but it does occur in developed countries as well. Self-induced abortion is easier to accomplish in the earliest stages of pregnancy (the first eight weeks from the last menstrual period).
successfully induce abortions through the following methods:
There are a number of anecdotally recorded and disseminated methods of performing a self-induced abortion. Many of the following methods present significant danger (see below) to the life or health of the woman:
Dr David Reuben's book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
mentions that many African women use a carved wooden abortion stick to induce, which has often been handed down.
In particular, attempts to insert hazardous objects into the uterus can cause punctures leading to septicemia. Ingesting or douching with harmful substances can have poisonous results. Receiving blows to the abdomen, whether self inflicted or at the hands of another, can damage organs. Furthermore, the less dangerous methods - physical exertion, abdominal massage, and ingestion of relatively harmless substances thought to induce miscarriage - are less effective, and may result in the fetus developing birth defects. However, abdominal massage abortion is traditionally practised in Myanmar
, Thailand
, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia
The cheap prescription synthetic prostaglandin
drug Misoprostol
- used in the U.S. to treat gastric ulcers
- is often used as an abortifacient in self-induced abortion in Latin America
n countries where legal abortions are unavailable, and its use has also been observed in immigrant populations in New York
. Although proponents of this method deem it to be safer than those using insertion of objects or chemicals into the uterus, they also note that failure to effect an abortion by this method can lead to the child being born with serious birth defects. Furthermore, the drug causes a drastic drop in blood pressure, and women may haemmorhage as a result of misusing the drug for the purpose of abortion.
Current medical procedure
s are seen as significantly physically safer than traditional at-home methods. In 1979, Bernard Nathanson, MD, an "abortion expert and an obstetrician-gynecologist who once presided over the largest abortion clinic in the world," wrote in his book Aborting America:
. Turn-of-the-20th-century birth control
advocate Margaret Sanger
wrote in her autobiography of a 1912 incident in which she was summoned to treat a woman who had nearly died from such an attempt.
A study concluded in 1968 determined that over 1.2 million illegal abortions were performed every year in the United States
, a portion of which were performed by women acting alone. The study suggested that the number of women dying as a result of self-induced abortions exceeded those resulting from abortions performed by another person. Due to estimated underreporting of illegal procedures, these numbers may not be accurate. A 1979 study noted that many women who required hospitalization following self-induced abortion attempts were admitted under the pretext of having had a miscarriage
or spontaneous abortion.
Although Roe v. Wade
made abortion more readily available throughout the U.S., it remains a crime in most jurisdictions for a woman to attempt to perform an abortion on herself. In May 2005, Gabriela Flores - a Mexican
immigrant living in South Carolina
- was charged under such a statute, which carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison
. She had induced abortion by ingesting misoprostol
, an ulcer
medication with abortifacient
potential. Mississippi
classifies self-induced abortions as deaths which affect the public interest, requiring that physicians report them to the local medical examiner
. http://www.msdh.state.ms.us/phs/rules5.htm By contrast, New Mexico
's "Unborn Victims of Violence Act" exempts self-induced abortion from the criminal liability the act creates.http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/05%20regular/firs/HB0111.html
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...
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 dangerous means. Such practices are illegal in most jurisdictions—even where abortion itself is legal—and may present a grave threat to the life of a woman. An unsuccessful attempt to induce such an abortion can also cause lasting damage to the fetus. Currently this is fairly common where abortion is illegal or unavailable, but it does occur in developed countries as well. Self-induced abortion is easier to accomplish in the earliest stages of pregnancy (the first eight weeks from the last menstrual period).
Methods
Khokhar and Gulati report that women in underdeveloped areas of IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
successfully induce abortions through the following methods:
- Lifting of heavy weights;
- Abdominal massage;
- Consumption of mutton marrowBone marrowBone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...
; - Consumption of dried hennaHennaHenna is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The name is also used for dye preparations derived from the plant, and for the art of temporary tattooing based on those dyes...
powder; - Consumption of carrotCarrotThe carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
seed soup;
There are a number of anecdotally recorded and disseminated methods of performing a self-induced abortion. Many of the following methods present significant danger (see below) to the life or health of the woman:
- physical exertion designed to bring about a miscarriage
- abdominal massage
- receiving punches, kicks, or other blows to the abdominal area
- bellyflopping onto a hard surface
- attempted removal of the fetus with a coat-hangerClothes hangerA clothes hanger, coat hanger or coathanger, is a device in the shape of:* Human shoulders designed to facilitate the hanging of a coat, jacket, sweater, shirt, blouse or dress in a manner that prevents wrinkles, with a lower bar for the hanging of trousers or skirts.* Clamp for the hanging of...
or similar device inserted into the uterusUterusThe uterus or womb is a major female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organ of most mammals including humans. One end, the cervix, opens into the vagina, while the other is connected to one or both fallopian tubes, depending on the species...
through the cervixCervixThe cervix is the lower, narrow portion of the uterus where it joins with the top end of the vagina. It is cylindrical or conical in shape and protrudes through the upper anterior vaginal wall...
(the historical use of this method has led to the use of coathangers as a symbol of the abortion rights movement, which associates dangerous methods of self-induced abortion with the illegality of abortion) - attempted piercing of the fetus with a knitting needle or similar device inserted into the uterus through the cervix
- suction through the insertion of a rubber tube into the uterus via the cervix
- ingesting abortifacientAbortifacientAn abortifacient is a substance that induces abortion. Abortifacients for animals that have mated undesirably are known as mismating shots....
s, high quantities of vitamin CVitamin CVitamin 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...
, PennyroyalPennyroyalPennyroyal 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...
or other substances believed to induce miscarriage - douchingDoucheA douche is a device used to introduce a stream of water into the body for medical or hygienic reasons, or the stream of water itself.Douche usually refers to vaginal irrigation, the rinsing of the vagina, but it can also refer to the rinsing of any body cavity. A douche bag is a piece of...
with substances believed to induce miscarriage (beginning in the 1960s, many women used Coca Cola for this purpose, although its utility is at best dubious) - vaginal pessaries
- yogaYogaYoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
- acupunctureAcupunctureAcupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
- hypothermiaHypothermiaHypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...
Dr David Reuben's book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex is a book by U.S. physician Dr. David Reuben. It was one of the first sex manuals that entered mainstream culture in the 1960s, and it had a profound effect on sex education and in liberalizing attitudes towards sex...
mentions that many African women use a carved wooden abortion stick to induce, which has often been handed down.
In particular, attempts to insert hazardous objects into the uterus can cause punctures leading to septicemia. Ingesting or douching with harmful substances can have poisonous results. Receiving blows to the abdomen, whether self inflicted or at the hands of another, can damage organs. Furthermore, the less dangerous methods - physical exertion, abdominal massage, and ingestion of relatively harmless substances thought to induce miscarriage - are less effective, and may result in the fetus developing birth defects. However, abdominal massage abortion is traditionally practised in Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
The cheap prescription 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....
drug 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...
- used in the U.S. to treat gastric ulcers
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
- is often used as an abortifacient in self-induced abortion 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 abortions are unavailable, and its use has also been observed in immigrant populations in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Although proponents of this method deem it to be safer than those using insertion of objects or chemicals into the uterus, they also note that failure to effect an abortion by this method can lead to the child being born with serious birth defects. Furthermore, the drug causes a drastic drop in blood pressure, and women may haemmorhage as a result of misusing the drug for the purpose of abortion.
Current medical procedure
Medical procedure
A medical procedure is a course of action intended to achieve a result in the care of persons with health problems.A medical procedure with the intention of determining, measuring or diagnosing a patient condition or parameter is also called a medical test...
s are seen as significantly physically safer than traditional at-home methods. In 1979, Bernard Nathanson, MD, an "abortion expert and an obstetrician-gynecologist who once presided over the largest abortion clinic in the world," wrote in his book Aborting America:
- "The practice of abortion was revolutionized at virtually the same moment that the laws were revolutionized, through the widespread introduction of suction curettageSuction-aspiration abortionVacuum or suction aspiration uses aspiration to remove uterine contents through the cervix. It may be used as a method of induced abortion, a therapeutic procedure used after miscarriage, or a procedure to obtain a sample for endometrial biopsy. The rate of infection is lower than any other...
in 1970. ... Even without a suction machine, a simple combination of catheterCatheterIn medicine, a catheter is a tube that can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel. Catheters thereby allow drainage, administration of fluids or gases, or access by surgical instruments. The process of inserting a catheter is catheterization...
and syringeSyringeA syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube...
can produce enough suction to carry out a safe early abortion. As for the self-induced abortion, by thrusting a coat hanger or other dangerous object into the womb, this will also be a thing of the past."
In the United States
The practice of self-induced abortion by various means has long been recorded in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Turn-of-the-20th-century 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...
advocate Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
wrote in her autobiography of a 1912 incident in which she was summoned to treat a woman who had nearly died from such an attempt.
A study concluded in 1968 determined that over 1.2 million illegal abortions were performed every year in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a portion of which were performed by women acting alone. The study suggested that the number of women dying as a result of self-induced abortions exceeded those resulting from abortions performed by another person. Due to estimated underreporting of illegal procedures, these numbers may not be accurate. A 1979 study noted that many women who required hospitalization following self-induced abortion attempts were admitted under the pretext of having had a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
or spontaneous abortion.
Although Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
made abortion more readily available throughout the U.S., it remains a crime in most jurisdictions for a woman to attempt to perform an abortion on herself. In May 2005, Gabriela Flores - a Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
immigrant living in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
- was charged under such a statute, which carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. She had induced abortion by ingesting 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...
, an ulcer
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
medication with abortifacient
Abortifacient
An abortifacient is a substance that induces abortion. Abortifacients for animals that have mated undesirably are known as mismating shots....
potential. Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
classifies self-induced abortions as deaths which affect the public interest, requiring that physicians report them to the local medical examiner
Medical examiner
A medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
. http://www.msdh.state.ms.us/phs/rules5.htm By contrast, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
's "Unborn Victims of Violence Act" exempts self-induced abortion from the criminal liability the act creates.http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/05%20regular/firs/HB0111.html
See also
- Abortion debateAbortion debateThe abortion debate refers to discussion and controversy surrounding the moral and legal status of abortion. The two main groups involved in the abortion debate are the self-described "pro-choice" movement and the "pro-life" movement...
- Gerri SantoroGerri SantoroGeraldine "Gerri" Santoro was an American woman who died because of a illegal abortion in 1964. A photograph of her after death, published in 1973, became a symbol of the pro-choice movement.-Biography:...
- Menstrual extractionMenstrual extractionMenstrual extraction was developed as a technique to help women gain and maintain control over their menstrual cycles and reproductive lives. It can be used as a method of very early termination of pregnancy and/or as a simple way to remove menstrual blood.-Early development:In 1971, a member of...
- Reproductive rightsReproductive rightsReproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
- Unsafe abortionUnsafe abortionAn unsafe abortion is the termination of an unwanted pregnancy by persons lacking the necessary skills, or in an environment lacking minimal medical standards, or both...
External links
- Sage-Femme Collective, Natural Liberty: Rediscovering Self-Induced Abortion Methods
- Mexican Immigrant May Face Two Years in Prison for Self-Induced Abortion Under South Carolina Law
- Abortion's Silenced Legacy
- Incidence of Induced Abortion in Southern Ghana
- Profile of Induced Abortions in Women from an Urban Slum of Delhi
- Rescue America and Operation Rescue about Non-Violence - Addendum
- Induced Abortion in Latin America: Social, Cultural, and Technical Aspects
- History and Efficacy of Emergency Contraception: Beyond Coca-Cola