Is it true they used to use rabbits...?

Question

..for pregnancy tests?

Answer 1

yes. Those *** whipes.
I hope they suffer like they make the animals suffer
They deserve it!

Answer 2

Yes. Labs used to take some urine from a woman, inject it into a female rabbit, then wait for 2 to 3 days, cut open the rabbit to see whether it ovulated or not. If the rabbit had developed eggs, it meant the woman was pregnant.

That is where the saying, "The rabbit died." came from. It came to mean that the woman was pregnant. Of course, the rabbit was always killed, no matter what the outcome of the test was.

Many a poor rabbit was sacrificed just because women couldn't wait a few months. I'm glad the new tests were developed so that the use of rabbits became an outdated means for a pregnancy test.

Answer 3

Yes!! Therabbit test was an early pregnancy test developed in 1927. It consisted of injecting the tested woman's urine into a female rabbit, then examining the rabbit's ovaries a few days later, which would change in response to a hormone only secreted by pregnant women. The hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), is produced during pregnancy and indicates the presence of a fertilized egg; it can be found in a pregnant woman's urine and blood. The rabbit test became a widely used bioassay (animal-based test) to test for pregnancy. The term "rabbit test" was first recorded in 1949 but became a common phrase in the English language.

Modern pregnancy tests still operate on the basis of testing for the presence of the hormone hCG. Due to medical advances, use of a rabbit is no longer required.

It is a common misconception that the injected rabbit would die only if the woman was pregnant. This led to the phrase "the rabbit died" being used as a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test. In fact, all rabbits used for the test died, because they had to be surgically opened in order to examine the ovaries. While it was possible to do this without killing the rabbit, it was generally deemed not worth the trouble and expense.

Answer 4

OH YES! The woman's urine was injected into a rabbit and the ovaries of the rabbit were examined a few days later to check for a change in the rabbit's ovaries due to a reaction to a specific hormone only produced by a pregnant woman. It is a common misconception that if the rabbit died after injection it meant that the woman was pregnant. But all the rabbits tested on, did die, pregnant or not. The only way to examine the ovaries was to kill the rabbit.

Answer 5

I have been told by my grandmother that this is true. How this worked, I don't know. I was 10 when she told me about it and I have grown kids of my own now. She was a nurse in labor & delivery in Baltimore, Maryland from the 1920's through 1969. She would tell me all kinds of things that went on back then, I was young at the time and she's long passed on. I remember this was done at least up to the 1950's.

I hope someoone has the true knowledge of how this worked, I'd like to have my memory jogged myself.

Answer 6

Aw the poor things!! That is awful!! I'm glad they don't use them now. I think my husband will know if I get pregnant again 'cos i will be covered in spots and be skulking in a corner with the peanut butter jar or all of the oranges!!!!
Mind you life was a lot more cruel then (not that I'm defending it). My Gran had a foxfur stole in the 30s when she was young (yuk!!). Now she'd get blood/red paint thrown at her if she wore it. People were not cruel per se they just did not question the omnivore life style. Vegetarians did exist and George Orwell quite famously slagged vegetarians off. (He apparently linked it to Communism.)

Answer 7

They used to do that, but when more reliable tests were developed, rabbits no longer needed to be used.

Answer 8

back in the old, old, old days yes like the 1940's . But in the 1990's they started to use other animals but once in a while they use them I'm a vet I know.

Answer 9

Yes that is true!

Answer 10

yas way way back in the old days.