Enemas to cause miscarriage.

I don’t know where I heard this or read it, but back when abortion was illegal in the United Stares there were many things that were tried to induce a miscarriage, and while there were stories like “her mother pushed her down the stairs” and the like, I had heard a very soapy high hot large volume enema could induce a miscarriage, but on the other hand, old medical books promoted the use of enemas during pregnancy “to keep the bowels open.”

It addition to my Monday to Friday job I had a small aviation business that employed a couple of teenagers as line boys. One of the guys was very upset, because his girlfriend thought she was pregnant. I told him there was something I could try that might help, if his girlfriend was willing.

He called her on the phone and told her I thought I could help, she was pretty upset, she hadn’t told her parents yet, and in those days you needed a doctors orders to even get a pregnancy test. He went to her place and picked her up, and we talked. She was late, but didn’t have any other symptoms. I told her that I could give a series of enemas, and that might work.

They both came from rather well respected families, this would have been a local scandal, so she probably would have tried anything to terminate.

So the next day, while my employee minded the store I took her to my place. I had her undress while I prepared a hot and soapy solution. This was long ago, and I only had a couple of bags, the standard two quarts, no Y connector, but rectal and colon tubes could still be bought at the drug store, and I did have a couple of 28 French in my collection.

I had her get in the knee-chest in the tub, and told her I was going to fill her with as much as she could take, and she might have trouble holding it. There was no objection, it was I’ll do whatever I need to do.

I got the first quart in without much trouble, for the second a couple of stops and restarts, but when I took out the rectal tube, I hadn’t gotten it very deep, she lost a little water. I suggested she go to the toilet, to get all the poop out, and we would try again.

I think she was a bit embarrassed to be expelling while I was in the bathroom, but I wasn’t going to miss it, and used the opportunity to refill.

I did let her rest before we restarted, and this time, with her colon pretty clean, she had passed a lot of hard poop, I worked the tube in, probably almost to the sigmoid flexure. This time the two quarts went in easy, and there was no trouble when I removed the rectal tube and inserted the colon tube almost to the full length and started bag two.

I told her this was the important enema, and that she would need to take as much as she could. With several stops and starts I got another quart in, when she asked if it was enough, because she didn’t think she could take anymore, I said that she could get up and go, but we should do one more fill.

She moved from the tub to the toilet at lightning speed, but even so lost a little on the way.

I had so much Ivory in the mix I thought the suds were going to overflow the toilet bowl.

This time when she was done I told her one more, and that it would just be hot water. Again we got to just about 3 quarts when she said that was all she could take. I told her to breath deeply, and she should try to take a little more, I’d slowly put in very small amounts.

Again, her attitude was, if this is what it takes, I’ll try. I told her just keep taking as much as she could, and when if it got to the point she couldn’t hold it, just let it go in the tub.

I doubt we got more than another pint in when she lost control. I told her to relax and let it flow, this is what we needed to happen. What came back with this one was mostly clear.

We cleaned up and I took her back to the hanger, and on the way she said she felt a little crampy, like she was getting her period. I told her if she didn’t we should repeat the process the next day.

The next day, she still felt like her period would start anytime, but she wasn’t taking any chances, so it was a repeat, but this time we got very close to the gallon mark before she exploded in the tub. She took it like a trooper!

The good news, in the final clean up there was a tinge of red on the toilet paper, and the next day everybody was relieved because she had gotten her period.

I don’t think she was pregnant, just late, and had panicked. I also gave them a serious lecture about birth control and the options.

All that being said, they continued to have risky sex, being under 21 in Massachusetts it was difficult to purchase any birth control.

So there a couple of more scares, and the “remedy” repeated. I’m fairly certain enemas are highly unlikely to cause a miscarriage, and it was far more likely the stress of the situation contributed to late periods, and the young woman, by her own admission was not “regular.”

By the last time we had an enema session she was really comfortable with it, but the fact the boyfriend was really irresponsible about using condoms was very stressful for her.

Eventually the couple went their separate ways... I’m sure both have married and probably now have grandchildren.

I saw her around town a few times, and she kidded about coming back for another series of enemas, bit it never happened.

A few years later, as a pilot, with my own airplane, when abortion was made legal in New York I made many a charter flight to a clinic in Manhattan for poor little rich girls. I’d pick them up at Beverly or Hanscom Field, fly them to Teterboro where I had a limo waiting to take them to the clinic. Massachusetts considerd prosecuting me for my aiding and abetting, fortunately nothing came of it, nothing that would stick, all were of legal age or had parental permission for a flight to NewYork, what happened when they got there? Well that was their business.

I don’t think she was pregnant, just late, and had panicked. I also gave them a serious lecture about birth control and the options.

EXACTLY--she wasn't pregnant.

It wasn't enemas that were used to induce abortion.

In the 2008 movie "Revolutionary Road" with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet becomes pregnant and uses a Higginson syringe to irrigate her uterus to induce an abortion. A similar idea was used in the 2004 film, "Vera Drake."

Many people induced abortion by irrigating the UTERUS with various solutions including DILUTED LYSOL. The catheter was inserted into the cervix to flood the uterus. This is NOT the same thing as douching.

Spoiler alert: SHE DIES as did many in real life.

You can google "higginson syringe abortion" if you like.

DON'T FUCK WITH THE UTERUS.

Once again Switchable has checked in, I knew she would. But if she grew up in Eastern Massachusetts at the time I did she would know that it was a common belief that hot and strong soap enemas could be used to terminate a pregnancy, and many other unbelievable stories.

Yes, I very much doubted the enemas had anything to do with it, but it was an “old wives tale” that made the rounds. Kind of amazing what people believed back then, and both adults and teens didn’t have access to a lot of information, parents weren’t forthcoming in most cases. Sadly that’s still true in some places in the U.S., but I’ve noticed kids in Australia are much better informed, more truth, less Jesus.

I knew what I did from sneaking into the medical section of our local library, so I was much better educated than a lot of teenagers. I also remember reading a book that warmed that enemas could induce “spontaneous” miscarriage. There was a lot of misinformation in some of those old medical books, well, they often contradicted each other.

And, obviously I was not going to have anything to do with a home made D&C, I was very much aware of the dangers of coat hangers and the like. I had an aunt that nearly died from a “back room” abortion.

So call me what you want, but as a horny 20 something I took advantage of the situation, however it was by mutual consent, and as far as the young woman was concerned she got the desired outcome.

And speaking of old medical books, there was an illustrated child care book in the Wellesley, Massachusetts library, from the 1940’s I believe, that had step by step, very explicit pictures of how to give a child an enema! Possession of that book today would probably have you arrested for possession of child pornography.

Never heard of using an enema to do that .

Now a lye douche ABSOLUTELY.

In fact Lysol even advertised itself for "Feminine cleanliness" but once you bought the bottle of it there was no mention anywhere on the label as to HOW to use it for that purpose.

Maybe some of the misunderstanding results from the fact that while Castille soap was often used in enemas, lye soap could be used in a way similar to Lysol if you could make it strong enough

It is easy to lose touch with what women of that day went through

@Lisak

The ad was for douching.

The abortion was to irrigate the uterus.

Interesting article on the use of Lysol douches 'back in the day' as a supposed 'contraceptive.' It suggests that it was used more as a spermicide rather than an abortifacient, but considering the latter was quite illegal at the time, one can read between the lines.

Apparently Lysol was not all that effective, as a 1930s study (however scientific or morally driven it was) that users of said (presumably post-coital) douches got pregnant anyway at a rate of about 50%. Believe withdrawal is a more effective method, but not to digress:

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/03/when-women-used-lysol-birth-control/#