Terminating pregnancy in Colonial US

[ruthste]

Setting: approx.1778 - Southern Pennsylvania

Comments

[gehayi]

According to Health and Wellness in Colonial America by Rebecca Jo Tannenbaum, abortion before "quickening" (fetal movements) was not illegal, though it was widely considered immoral. A woman only one to two months in pregnancy, however, might not know that she was pregnant; a lot of women in that era, not knowing if they were pregnant or now, took herbal cures for what was called "obstructed menses."

Early American Technology: Making and Doing Things From the Colonial Era to 1850, edited by Judith A. McGaw, talks about techniques that women favored to induce miscarriage and/or to induce menstruation. Dancing, horseback riding, and jumping rope were very popular. With herbs, savin (Juniperus sabina L.), juniper or red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.), rue (Ruta graveolens), aloes (Aloe barbadensis), pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegiodes), madder (Rubia tinctorum), and seneca snakeroot (Polygala senega) were the most common in early Pennsylvania, used by both English and German women. Both savin (a European plant brought to America) and red

[syntinen_laulu]

I don't see any possibility of her being prosecuted for this. Regularity in menstruation was understood to be necessary for a woman's health, and if 'the Prince' failed to pay his monthly visit it was as normal to take a herbal remedy to bring it on as it was to take something for constipation.

There were theoretical reasons for abortion being for so many centuries only illegal after 'quickening'; but the practical reason was that until then even the woman concerned couldn't be 100% sure she was pregnant, and that her menses hadn't simply failed to occur for some reason (not uncommon in cases of poor nutrition etc). If this character is known or suspected to have committed an indiscretion with a man, and a month or two later is seen knocking back the pennyroyal tea like there's no tomorrow, the community gossips might be having a a field day but there is nothing the law could possibly latch on to.

[aquaopal]

If oil extracts from herbs like Rue or Pennyroyal were used, a more likely outcome would be that the young woman would either poison herself to death, or - best case scenario - poison herself to the point of being very sick for weeks, vomiting and not being able to hold down food or water well. If she survived, but tried this too late in the pregnancy, even after going through a period of severe sickness, it is still unlikely she would would have ended the pregnancy if she started the process too late in the pregnancy (e.g., past week 6) and/or just took oil extracts. It is extremely dangerous to consume even small amounts of oil extract from these types of plants, since even relatively small amounts can cause liver damage. Many women have died trying to give themselves abortions using these methods

[corvideye]

I can't see much reason she would use oil extract, given that she could easily gather it and make tea... infusing it in oil would probably be more noticeable.

[corvideye]

In my area (pacific nw), pennyroyal is about as common as dirt. It is frequently found in ditches, at the edge of ponds, and in low-lying fields that tend to flood in the winter (it likes wet roots). It has a pretty lavender spike flower that makes it easy to spot in the summer. Whether flowering or not, you can also find it by scent. I've often found it just by wandering in a likely area and waiting for a breeze to carry its distinctive pungent minty-camphor smell. It is commonly used as insect repellent in bedding and clothing chests, so gathering it would not be automatically suspect.

It should be a lot easier to get than more expensive and/or imported ingredients like aloe, myrrh, asafetida etc. Alternatively, rue and tansy had culinary uses, so might be in a kitchen garden.

The character should definitely use the pennyroyal as tea, not oil, and from what I've read, they will experience some painful cramping for a while.

[elenbarathi]

Pennyroyal tea. It's a mint; it grows everywhere, and the tea tastes good; people drink it just for the flavor, so there's nothing suspicious about gathering it. It was, and still is, commonly used to bring on one's period if it's delayed, or if one is worried that it might be.

Of course there's no clinical data on how often it works/doesn't work when conception has actually occurred. But for that same reason, there's no way to tell whether conception had occurred (unless the tea didn't work.)