were women able to avoid having children in the past?

Question

esp. if they knew they had a high chance of dying in childbirth and just the fear of it?

Answer 1

Yes there were plenty of herbal abortifacients, queen annes lace being one of them.

Answer 2

There was no foolproof way to avoid pregnancy in the past, but then there isn't now either. :-P

I don't know of any intentional methods of ancient birth control, although I'm sure there were some. Like that answer above about Roman plants. However, I do know that a woman's body can naturally regulate itself so that she doesn't have children too frequently. Breast feeding can stave off ovulation, so at least for the first year or so of breast feeding, there are often no eggs released, and women don't usually get pregnant. This phenomenon can be seen in the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. They had babies fairly infrequently because they would nurse their children for 5-6 years.

On Wikipedia, I just found this:
"There are historic records of Egyptian women using a pessary (a vaginal suppository) made of various acidic substances (crocodile dung is alleged) and lubricated with honey or oil, which may have been somewhat effective at killing sperm."

Answer 3

I do genealogy as a hobby; judging by the number of families with 10 or 15 children, I'd say that as a rule, women were NOT able to avoid having children. I've seen more men than I can count in historical records who had two, three, or more wives in succession who died in childbirth, and plenty of babies with them. It was simply the way things were at the time; I'm sure many women feared childbirth, but their position in society was not powerful enough to allow them to opt out of it the vast majority of the time.

Answer 4

Not as long as they were married.

Answer 5

Native Am. Ladies used herbs and the lining of fish gut for suppression of pregnancy. But in most cases the Male population was in dire need of support due to stresses of life in acquiring food and safety. Unmated girls were experts at producing Mutual Orgasm with out inserting penis in Virgina. And to be honest we need to redefine our mores to include Orgasm training in our youth.
Ladies were often left partner less and GIVEN to the brother to UP keep until such time as mating was again needed but in the mean time FUN Sex was not discouraged. Much older ladies and Young girls of thirteen were expected to service Warriors after bravery That saved food or home from enemies or disasters.
It was not a DIRTY thing,, it was with pride that good sex be presented as part of Life Incest was not forbidden in the home but pregnancy was. Absenthian society (Hope/Apach/ect) encouraged out of community mating to stop inbred weakness's
Plains tribes often included Free Slaves or Prisoner of war females in all walks of life and they were free to leave after the peace or after they had served the family of a fallen Solider to the satisfaction of elders. Children of POW were raised as cherished beings reborn to the people.
Black Lodge was a no questions ask Society for ladies of all sexual preferences. Les/Bi/ non. all existed in those times also.
It has not been told to me if WINKTE {afeminate men } were allowed into B.L. but they were allowed to practice sex as they liked. Pregnancy was a good thing for a dying people. The infant mortality was high after White's infested the tribes with Foreign ailments that no imunity had been aguried for. Males were OLD at 28 and ladies at 35.

Answer 6

In the early 20th century, they had condoms, the rhythm method, an early version of the diaphragm, extended lactation (kept nursing so they wouldn't have a period), surgical sterilization.

Earlier in history, there were various barrier methods.

Answer 7

many woemn knew of certain drinks to injest to end a pregnancy.
they also knew which plants/mixes of plants could work as birth control, some of which are extinc today due to over use

Answer 8

there have always been various forms of birth control. romans had a plant that is said to be so effective that they picked them all and this plant is no more. Various teas and then a lamb skin condom. also natural methods like timing things against ovulation.

Answer 9

in ancient Greece they used condoms made from the intestine of sheeps!!! those gay boys actually needed condoms! i wonder why?!

Answer 10

Actually, it was the exact opposite. Women's number one priority was to please their men and their men would always request more children, so she did this.