Something new about the Hippocratic Oath.

You may notice that I'm doing the quickest points first and in no particular order. Here, Find says, "Ever heard of the Hippocratic Oath? About 2500 years ago. Here is a quote: "Nor will I give a woman a pessary to procure abortion." New?"

No, not new. However, this tidbit of information may be new: Hippocrates was against using pessaries or drugs to procure abortion because of the detrimental effects these methods had on the woman. He advocated other methods of abortion, one of the more peculiar was jumping up and down, or rather, "leaping with the heels to the buttocks for the sake of expulsion". Back in ancient Greece, any method that involved invasive procedures or poisons was dangerous for the woman; of course Hippocrates was against them. It is quite possible, that if abortions back then had been as safe as they are today, Hippocrates would have thought differently on the matter. For a fascinating read on other methods of birth control in ancient Greece and Rome, try Immaculate Contraception by Emma Dickens.