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I've seen it suggested that abortifacients of various kinds and effectivenesses were pretty widely known and used, actually. The Catholic Church and cultures in

• emodendroket 10y ago
  The "safely" and "reliably" qualifiers are important here. Consider this text from the WP article about the history of abortion: > Soranus, a 2nd-century Greek physician, prescribed diuretics, emmenagogues, enemas, fasting, and bloodletting as safe abortion methods, although he advised against the use of sharp instruments to induce miscarriage, due to the risk of organ perforation. He also advised women wishing to abort their pregnancies to engage in energetic walking, carrying heavy objects, riding animals, and jumping so that the woman's heels were to touch her buttocks with each jump, which he described as the "Lacedaemonian Leap." I don't think people prescribing "energetic walking" and bloodletting have really figured this out.