Not a fan of traditional medicine, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion. The author of the article seems very generous in interpreting the traditional practices of Hawaiians positively. They make it sound like just because Hawaiians practiced strict segregation from menstruating women (many societies practiced this in some form, and it’s mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible as well) that it is some kind of great honor.

One thing the article says that I don’t agree with, is that it calls medicine “Western”. Science does not depend on East or West. There is only real medicine which is based on science, or fake medicine, which is often based on tradition and culture. The article makes it sound like women in Hawaii had great and safe abortions prior to modernity, but the safety and efficacy of their methods should be regarded with more caution, I think. That being said, it’s good they appear to have had accepting communities and support from caregivers. That is really important.

As far as I know, these types of pre-modern abortions (for example, by using drugs) were common all over the world.

This was an interesting read, thanks :)

I had not heard of native plants in Hawaii that could induce abortion, and I tried to follow the links to learn more, but none of them seemed to work or lead to information I was looking for. I have read that many traditional cultures have abortion practices, which makes total sense, you need to space out your pregnancies and value the life of the mother and not overburden resources that the community relies on. I just wish the links gave me more information about this.