From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Newsgroups: soc.women,talk.abortion,sci.med
Subject: Ancient Methods of Birth Control
Date: 27 Jul 92 23:08:58 GMT
Organization: LLNL


	In the May/June 1992 issue of the _American Scientist_, there
is an article titled "Oral Contraceptives in Ancient and Medieval
Times".

	This article discusses a variety of herbs that have
antifertility properties and concludes that they were probably used as
birth control before modern times: _Artemisia_, myrrh, pennyroyal,
rue, the squirting cucumber, Queen Anne's Lace, and one known in
ancient times as _silphion_.  Silphion was probably a member of the
genus _Ferula_, or the giant fennel. It would grow only in the Cyrene
area in North Africa; efforts to grow it elsewhere failed. The article
reproduces a coin issued by the ancient Greek city-state that had one
been there; it shows a seated woman with a silphion plant in front of
her; she points to her vulva with one hand. The connection with
fertility is clear; other Cyrenian coins just show the silphion plant.
It was so valuable in ancient times that it was driven into extinction
by over-cultivation.  About myrrh, there was a story told about it
that there was once a woman named Myrrha who had been seduced by her
father and who was turned into the tree when she asked the gods for
help in hiding herself from him. Her tears became the tree's sap,
which became known as the rescuer of daughters victimized by their
fathers' lusts, presumably by inducing abortion if they got pregnant.
This could be a literary reference to father-daughter incest.
Artemisia was named after the goddess Artemis, protector of women.

	Before Indian and Chinese researchers started describing
various antifertility herbs in the 1960's, this type of medicine was
regarded with serious skepticism, an attitude that has been slow to
change. But there are plenty of literary references, such as various
ancient and medieval herbals and comments like that by the Roman
satirist Juvenal about how "we have so many sure-fire drugs for
inducing sterility!". Attitudes varied in ancient times, with Plato
and Aristotle thinking it OK to use birth control to limit population,
and the Roman Senate of Caesar Augustus's day outlawing abortion and
contraception in order to increase the Empire's population.

	Why did this information have to be rediscovered? The medieval
Church was no friend of birth control or sexuality in general; one of
its ideals was the Josephite, or celibate marriage, for example. But
even in the European Middle Ages, there were some willing to write
about birth-control and abortion-inducing herbs, including churchmen
like Peter of Spain, who became Pope John XXII. Those who administered
these antifertility herbs were almost certainly largely female, and as
the medical profession became more professional, the professionals
were inevitably male, and sexist male at that. Modern chemical methods
are the result of endocrinological research -- and the search for
various plant substances that produce the appropriate endocrinological
effects.

	But exactly how do these herbs work? There have been efforts
to find out for some of them. They could work by being generally toxic
or by having more specific effects, and it would be interesting to see
if some new birth-control or early-abortion pills come out of
investigations of antifertility herbs.

	One final note: I note that silphion was depicted on the coins
of Cyrene, while here in the present-day United States, birth-control
advertising is not even allowed on TV, despite the blatant
sexploitation that occurs on a regular basis. Who is the more
enlightened one? one is inclined to ask. I seriously suspect that it
is not the American TV broadcasters with their cringing in front of
religious bigots.
Newsgroups: soc.women,alt.censorship,talk.politics.misc,soc.men