Photo: Chepko Danil Vitalevich (Shutterstock)
Both before and after Roe v. Wade was overturned, people made sure to pass each other tips about abortion access on social media. Some of these were helpful, like websites where you can connect with an organization that can help you get an abortion. Others were downright dangerous, like insinuating that anyone with an unwanted pregnancy can easily terminate it by drinking a cup of pennyroyal tea. Meanwhile, the scientific literature has documented deaths from self-administered pennyroyal. The stuff can cause liver failure.
In truth, herbal abortions are far more dangerous than the medical kind, and they don’t even necessarily work. Or, as I put it in the post linked above: “This is a medical procedure. It’s one where you may be going into it not even knowing the appropriate dosage, the side effects to watch out for, the success rate, or the risks you are taking. Would you accept that for anything else?”
