Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 July 2008
Although abortion is still illegal in the Philippines it appears to be increasing. This article reviews the methods to which women wanting to terminate a pregnancy resort, in spite of the health risks attached to them; these traditional practices include the use of herbal and pharmaceutical preparations supposedly with abortifacient properties, catheter insertion, abdominal massage and dilatation and curettage. It then goes on to discuss menstrual data from the records of two doctors in one ciry who are amongst the relatively small number of people in the country who are using the technique at the present time.