Preparation: Papaya’s abortifacient action is most effective if used in early pregnancy. The eating of one unripe papaya fruit a day in the week prior to menstruation is used as an emmenagogue in Asia. The seeds are well documented in folk medicine as having powerful abortifacient qualities. The application of the uterotonic papaya latex to the cervical os is considered to be one of the most effective herbal abortifacient preparations. One may chose to use just one preparation or a combination of them.
To harvest papaya latex: Wash one unripe fruit. Working a small section at a time, make long shallow scratches on the thin papaya fruit skin with a sharp knife. The milky papaya latex will immediately start to ooze and run out of the cuts. Collect the latex in a clean cup or receptacle. Papaya latex can be used immediately in a fresh state, made into a tincture, prepared into homeopathic potencies (See Homeopathy), or dried to a powder at low temperature. The unripe fruit may be made into a juice or salad.
Words to the Wise: Papaya latex is an irritant and can cause blistering of skin exposed to it.[357] Although rare, some people are allergic to the papaya fruit and latex. Persons with a known latex allergy should avoid papaya latex. Papaya latex has shown prolonged anticoagulant activity.[358] Persons with clotting or blood disorders should not use papaya. The seeds, leaves, and latex of papaya contain small quantities of a toxic alkaloid called carpine. Carpine in large quantities can lower the pulse rate and depress the nervous system.[359] The seeds and pulp of papaya are known to contain benzyl isothiocyanate, which is known to induce glutathione transfer.[360] Glutathione is a master antioxidant present in every cell that transports toxins to the liver.
Watch for signs of Toxicity Specific to Papaya (Carica papaya): Decreased heart rate, heart palpitations, visual changes, and difficulty breathing when lying down.
Abortifacient Papaya Os Ointment: Using a speculum, and a clean paint brush, smear 1 tsp. (5 ml) fresh papaya latex on the cervical os. Alternately, liquid latex can be collected into a small plastic syringe (like the kind used to administer baby medicines) and the syringe inserted into the vagina and released at the cervix. Repeat two times a day, for up to three days.
Papaya Seeds: 1 - 2 Tbs. fresh papaya seeds or 1 tsp. dried powdered papaya seeds, mixed with water, taken two to three times a day for up to six days.
Green Papaya Salad, (also known as Som Tam or Tam mak hoong) According to a survey in Thailand, green papaya salad is the most popular food dish among Thai women.[361]
1 ½ Tbs. sugar juice of 1 - 2 limes, to taste 2 cups shredded green papaya, peeled and grated 6 green beans, bruised 1 - 3 cloves garlic, minced, to taste 1 ½ Tbs. fish or soy sauce 1 or 2 fresh chili peppers, to taste 5 Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 Tbs. dried shrimp or prawns (optional) 2 Tbs. peanuts, toasted (optional)
Peel the green papaya; and using a cheese grater, grate the flesh into a large bowl. Mix the dried shrimp, fish or soy sauce, lime juice and sugar, and add a little at a time to the grated papaya, to taste. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and green beans. Mix well. The salad is traditionally served with sticky rice, a sliver of cabbage, scallions, green beans, and Thai basil.
Parsley
One of them handed out parsley, the symbol of clandestine abortion, which others put in their hair.
There were about four thousand of us, mostly women...
-Simone de Beauvoir in All Said and Done, 1974
Parts Used: Seeds and essential oil.
Medicinal Properties: Diuretic, prevents kidney stones, emmenagogue, and carminative.
Effects on the Body: Stimulates menstruation and increases urine output.
Abortifacient Action: Contracts uterus and is embryotoxic.
Contains: Apiol (uterine tonic), myristicin (embryotoxin), and unidentified water soluble uterine contractors.
Description: Widely cultivated and well-known culinary herb, parsley is a short-lived perennial with a smooth erect stem and shiny dark green compound leaves. Small ribbed oval seeds follow tiny white umbel flowers. The curly-leaf variety grows to 12 in. (30.5 cm) in height and is best known as a garnish and favored in Britain. The flat-leaf variety, preferred in Italy, has a stronger flavor, is used like a vegetable, and grows to 3 feet (1 m) in height.
In ancient Greece, parsley was considered sacred. Parsley was dedicated to Persephone and used in funeral rites. Parsley was reputed to have sprung from the blood of an infant who was killed by the serpent that guarded the sacred grove of Zeus at Nemea. The baby was given immortality, renamed Archemorus, the forerunner of death. Homer related that chariot horses were fed by warriors with the leaves of the parsley plant. Greek gardens were often bordered with parsley and rue, symbolizing respectively the edge of death and grace, and were planted to banish evil. Parsley was worn in wreathed crowns and put on graves. In the Middle Ages, parsley continued its sacred stance; it was consecrated to St. Peter.
Through the ages, parsley was also known for its emmenagogual and abortifacient qualities. Folkloric reports of parsley used as an abortifacient are numerous and widespread, reaching across the Atlantic from Europe and Africa to the Americas.[362] Hippocrates documented that parsley was used to cause an abortion. Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) said parsley was used to cause sterility. In medieval times, parsley was used as an abortifacient; women used the seeds to bring out their menstruation, however parsley seeds were thought to be inferior to other emmenagogual herbs.[363] Infusion of the top and root of Petroselinum crispum was utilized by Native American Cherokee as an abortive for “female obstructions.”[364]
The emmenagogual effect of parsley preparations is often attributed to a substance called apiol found in parsley seeds. Apiol is an organic chemical compound also known as parsley camphor. Apiol was discovered in 1715, by Heinrich Christoph Link who noticed greenish crystals forming while processing the essential oil of parsley. In 1855, Joret and Homolle documented the effectiveness of treatment of amenorrhea with apiol.[365] Apiol is thought to ‘cause a relatively safe abortion’ in pregnant women if taken in small quantities,[366] however the deaths of some women trying to induce an abortion is attributed to the toxic properties of apiol.[367]
In the United States, apiol prescription by doctors as an abortifacient was widespread in the early 1900’s. The First World War spread the knowledge of the use of apiol for abortion into Europe. It is estimated by some scholars that millions of women took apiol to produce abortion with few negative side effects and only a handful of deaths reported.[368] The use of apiol stopped when a highly toxic adulterated product containing apiol and triorthocresyl phosphate was introduced to the American market in the 1920’s.[369] Now that other methods of abortion are widely available, apiol is no longer available in the United States; but apiol was recently produced and sold as an abortifacient in the Middle East and Mexico.[370]
358
L.D. Kapoor,
360
Nakamura Y, Morimitsu Y, Uzu T, et al., “A Glutathione S-Transferase Inducer from Papaya: Rapid Screening, Identification, and Structure-Activity Relationship of Isothiocyanates.”
361
http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Green_Papaya_Salad.htm (accessed November 23, 2007).
362
Nina L. Etkin,
363
Paul of Aegina (Paulus Aegineta),
364
Paul B. Hamel and Mary U. Chiltoskey,
366
Edward Shorter,
369
A. Austregesilo, “Acute Neuromyelitis,”
370
J. F. Morton,