Abortion procedures in hunter-gatherer societies

In an article I wrote for Quillette a few years back, I discussed the high rates of infant and child mortality across societies throughout human history, before industrialization and the rise of more effective antiseptics and sanitation systems reduced these rates substantially. “Across cultures, an average of about 27 percent of infants died before the age of one, and 47 percent failed to survive to puberty.”

In addition to the psychological toll this commonly imposed on parents, it also impelled some very difficult reproductive decisions. Infanticide is widely reported across societies in the ethnographic record, however in most societies it was not common, and often occurred in particular functional contexts. “Social scientists Martin Daly and Margo Wilson note that the most commonly attributed reason for infanticide across small-scale societies is that the child was deformed or ill. Other common reasons are adulterous conception, the mother being unwed, and the appearance of twins.”

Societies without modern forms of birth control are commonly referred to as ‘natural fertility populations’, and while this does capture an important difference, there is a real sense in which probably no human population is really a ‘natural fertility’ population, as cultural norms and practices are used by individuals and groups in all societies to regulate reproduction.

To further understand this phenomenon, I looked into abortion procedures among the 39 hunter-gatherer societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural sample, using the eHRAF World Cultures database. I found evidence for abortion practices among 28 of the 39 societies (~72%), including societies in every major region in the sample (3/3 Africa, 2/4 Asia, 3/3 Oceania, 16/21 North America, 4/8 South America) (Table 1).

Risk of death for the mother from the procedure is noted for at least 5 of the societies, which is almost certainly an underestimate as this sort of information may not be mentioned or known by the ethnographer. Similarly, motives for abortion commonly aren’t mentioned, but a common theme is the mother being unmarried. In the rarer cases where abortion is noted to be undertaken by a married woman, adulterous paternity or not wanting another child were motives mentioned. In describing the reasons for abortion among unmarried Eastern Apache girls, Morris Opler says that,

Many problems arise when premarital sex relations result in pregnancy, especially if the man involved flees, denies responsibility, or is considered undesirable. The girl's kinsmen can no longer demand generous marriage gifts and will be relieved to find a man who will agree to support another's child. If a husband cannot be found for the girl prior to the birth of her baby, the public nature of the scandal and the necessity of provision for the child raise further issues. Therefore, resort is sometimes made to abortion, and illegitimate children are occasionally abandoned or destroyed at birth [emphasis added].

Anthropologist Colin Turnbull writes among the Mbuti that, “The only indication of band interest in birth is the prohibition against married women procuring abortions, which are known and sometimes practiced among the unmarried girls, though rarely.”

Regarding the methods used, abortive substances are noted for 15/39 societies (38% of total, 3/3 in Africa, 1/5 Asia, 1/3 Asia, 7/21 North America, 3/8 South America). I suspect this is also an underestimate, for reasons I touched on in my piece on women’s secrets. Anthropologist William Elmendorf writes that among the Twana of Washington,

Certain women owned “secret medicines,” herb concoctions plus spells, to produce abortion. They were paid for administering their medicines, or, in some cases the prepared concoction, with spell and directions, was purchased and self-administered. Pregnant unmarried girls were the usual customers of abortionists. HA indicated that men knew little about these things and that women were secretive about them. Producing abortion was disgraceful, probably from the association with premarital pregnancy [emphasis added].

The abortive drug was also apparently a secret among the Mi’kmaq. In some societies, girls may be instructed in these matters during women’s initiations, as among the Mbuti, where they are taught the “use of the various herbs and treatments that a woman must know to insure fertility, an abundance of milk, easy childbirth, and abortion if necessary.”

Physical abortion procedures were used in at least 17/39 societies (44% of total, 1/3 Africa, 1/5 Asia, 3/3 Oceania, 9/21 North America, 3/8 South America). In some cases these methods risked inducing significant trauma and potentially death. Among the Tiwi, anthropologist Jane Goodale writes that,

Jumping from a tree to the ground or hitting the womb with a stick will also produce an abortion, I was informed. When one of these methods proves effective, the mother will be all right if the anera (placenta) wherein resides the pitapitui is discharged, at which time the bleeding will stop. However, if the placenta is not discharged, the bleeding will continue and the mother will die, for there is no known cure.

She proposes however that abortions increased post-colonial contact, as previously in the traditional past being a mother was the primary way a Tiwi woman gained status. Colonial contact likely also increased abortion among the Ainu, with the rise of encounters with foreign men seeking to solicit prostitution.

The evidence seems to indicate that most hunter-gatherer societies had methods of inducing abortion. They were apparently used primarily, but not exclusively, by unmarried women at risk of not having an investing father to support the child, as was also common with infanticide cross-culturally.