Medicinal Abortions in Mexican History: Botanical Knowledge Retained

Nora Jaffary

You might assume that medicinal contraceptives are recent products of modern western science. In fact, Indigenous healers and midwives in the Americas used botanical knowledge to provide women with abortifacients long before contact with Europeans. This post, which looks at instances of abortion in Mexican history, builds on Naomi Rendina’s January 6th post, and provides another example of the complicated ways that women have preserved knowledge of plant medicines through whispered networks... continue reading.