I’ve written before on the highly effective use of fertility herbs in women. I myself used herbs to encourage fertility with my first pregnancy as my husband and I did not attempt to start a family until I was well into my 30’s.
Once we discovered the wonders of Traditional Diet, however, I no longer needed any herbal assistance with later pregnancies. Herbs are also highly effective at dampening fertility in order to naturally and safely prevent pregnancy. When would such use of natural birth control be beneficial?
For one, herbal birth control would be helpful to use between pregnancies in order to space children 3-4 years apart. This allows Mom to adequately replenish her nutritional stores so that later children are just as healthy, smart and capable as the first. Spacing children a minimum of 3 years apart (birthday to birthday) was rigorously practiced in ancestral cultures. It preserves Mom’s health and prevents exhaustion and nutritional deficiency for her too.
Natural methods of birth control are always preferable to chemically based agents such as spermicides, contraceptive patches, and IUDs which emit synthetic hormones, or the contraceptive pill which decimates the balance of gut flora and can lead to autoimmune disease in the mother and any children born later.
Even IUDs that emit only copper instead of hormones to prevent pregnancy should be avoided as copper toxicity is a very real and dangerous side effect of using these devices.  According to Theresa Vernon, LAc author of the article Metals and the Mind:
If adrenal function becomes impaired, the copper builds up in the liver, brain, joints, and lungs. When this happens, you see very specific problems, including mental problems, liver problems, and detoxification problems. Phase II liver impairment is often made worse by copper toxicity, if not actually caused by it.
You also see a lot of copper toxicity with asthma and breathing problems, including emphysema. Copper also tends to build up in the joints, leading to arthritis. Chronic skin problems are also an indication of copper toxicity.
Low adrenal function is an epidemic in our modern society. Â If you doubt this, just walk into any convenience store and notice the enormous display of energy shots and drinks that are available for sale. Not to mention that a Starbucks or other coffee shop is virtually on every corner of most major cities. Americans have serious adrenal health problems. As a result, many are addicted to caffeine and sugar as a way to make it through the day. This makes any excess copper in the system a huge health problem!
Artificial contraception may be tempting in the short term. However, it is clearly not a great idea if preserving your long term hormone and gut health is important to you.
Herbs for Natural Birth Control
The use of anti-fertility herbs along with a simple barrier method such as the female or male condom that is not treated with chemicals (such as natural lambskin) works very effectively for preventing pregnancy. Â This option is especially attractive for health-conscious women who are not particularly turned on by the thought of charting their cycles, taking their basal metabolic temperature every morning, checking the stretchiness of their vaginal secretions and practicing selective abstinence a la Natural Family Planning which for some ladies over analyzes and saps the spontaneity out of what should be a very natural, uncomplicated and enjoyable event.
So if herbal birth control appeals to you, here are the different types and how they work as outlined in the very helpful book Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year. Â Please note that if sourcing your own herbs is new to you, a well-respected herbalist or acupuncturist in your area can put together a bag of herbs to assist you with natural birth control for an extremely reasonable cost. Â These professionally sourced herbs mixed in the proper proportions can then be used to prepare a cold or a hot herbal infusion that you drink periodically to keep fertility in check and under your control.
Sterility Promoting Herbs
Stoneseed Root. Â Women of the Dakota Indian tribes used this extremely powerful herb as a root infusion steeped in cold water for several hours. Â They then drank a cup every day for 6 months. The Dakota women also practiced breathing in the smoke of the plant as it burned to induce permanent sterility.
The Shoshone tribes concentrated in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Montana also used this root for permanent sterility purposes.
Jack in the Pulpit Root. Â This root is less powerful than stoneseed root and is prepared by mixing one tsp of the dried powdered root in a half cup of cold water. Â The liquid is then strained and was consumed by women of the Hopi Tribe. Â Â Conception was prevented for one week by doing this.
Thistles. Â The Quinault Indians used thistles to induce temporary sterility by placing the entire plant in boiling water. Â The very bitter, strong tasting liquid was then consumed.
Herbs that Prevent Pregnancy
Wild Carrot Seed (Queen Anne’s Lace). Â This oily and strong tasting but not unpleasant herb is particularly useful if an “oops” occurs and unprotected relations take place during the fertile time. One teaspoon of carrot seeds is taken immediately and continued each day for another 7 days.
The women of Rajasthan, India use carrot seed for this exact purpose. While wild carrot seed is not commercially available, cultivated carrot seeds can be substituted but be sure to check that they haven’t been treated with chemicals or other toxic substances.
Research in mice has proven the effectiveness of carrot seed to prevent implantation.
Smartweed Leaves. Â A common weed that grows all over the world, smartweed contains rutin, quercetin, and gallic acid. All of these substances interfere with the initiation of pregnancy.
An infusion of one ounce of dried leaves (or 4 ounces of fresh leaves) in a quart of boiling water is consumed liberally until menstruation begins.
Like carrot seed, smartweed may also be used after relations occur on fertile days or to bring on menstruation if the period is late.
Rutin.  This phenolic compound can be purchased in tablet form. A minimum of 500 mg should be taken daily for several days before and following ovulation. Another option is to consume rutin after sexual relations and continue each day until menstruation begins.
Herbs Which Initiate Menstruation
Ginger root. Â Ginger is perhaps the fastest acting menstruation initiating herb you can use. Put 1 tsp of powdered organic ginger root into a cup and pour boiling water over it. Drink when the water cools to a temperature which is still hot but comfortable. Drink up to 4 cups per day for no more than 5 days.
Vitamin C. While plain ascorbic acid is not the natural form of Vitamin C, it can be used therapeutically on occasion to bring on menstruation if necessary. Take 500 mg every hour for 12 hours each day for up to 6 days maximum. The use of ascorbic acid in this high dosage may also produce loose bowels as a side effect.
Sarah, I really enjoy your blog and am grateful for all I have learned from you.
To this discussion of whether preventing implantation is in fact abortion, or ending human life, I would like to offer the following information:
This is a quote from Dr. Jerome LeJeune, the renowned French geneticist who discovered the cause of Down syndrome, on the subject of when life begins:
“Life has a very long history, but each individual has a very neat beginning, the moment of its conception. The material link is the molecular thread of DNA. In each reproductive cell this ribbon, roughly one meter long, is cut into pieces, twenty-three, or chromosomes. As soon as the 23 paternally-derived chromosomes are united through fertilization to the 23 maternal ones, the full genetic meeting necessary to express all the inborn qualities of a new individual is gathered, and personal constitution takes place. . . .To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion.”
When a woman makes a choice to try and prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg, she needs to know exactly what she is ending: the life of her own child.
Don’t you understand that this is Dr LeJune’s OPINION??? Just because he is a Dr, does not make him GOD!
Very interesting, thankyou! However, you don’t include the mechanisms by which these herbs induce sterility or menstruation. Presumably they act on the endocrine system in some way… is there research on whether or not this is optimal for health?
PS – Love your blog! 🙂
Curious as to how exactly the first three work to prevent conception. You say that stoneseed has been used for permanent sterility and thistles for temporary…how does that work? By shutting down the ovaries /temporarily preventing ovulation? Just wondering–aren’t there long-term health effects from preventing a bodily system from functioning normally?
Preventing ovulation repeatedly would throw a woman into estrogen dominance and its whole host of negative effects; diabetes, breast cancer, etc., – good question that deserves a scientific answer.
Good point – thank you. 🙂
Thank you for this post. We practice FAM and this would be nice to in cooperate into the routine. God gave us all the plants of the earth to use. This includes plants that effect fertility, whether they increase or decrease it. If He didn’t want them to be used that way, then they would not be effective. He gave us very clear signs of fertility so as women we may understand when to best achieve pregnancy or to avoid. He gave us FREE WILL and that’s why these things are known and work for us. We have the choice to conceive or not to.
Think more about what you are saying here about the free use of plants. If I give someone I don’t like a fruit salad with deadly nightshade mixed in, that would be okay, just because it’s effective at killing a person? Is that really the plant’s intended use?
I think our free will gives us the responsibility to say – just because we can, should we?
Thank you for this, I have blood clotting issues and cannot take bc pills and cannot have an iud also because of health issues and it is nice to see other options besides diaphragms. I have had past problems with miscarriages and premature births were the babies did not survive and to keep myself from going through the emotional stress I rather try to prevent pregnancy unless it is planned. I understand there are many different views on the herbal prevention of pregnancy and that some see it as aborting, but is it any different than taking a bc pill? Doesn’t bc pills prevent implantation also? I am not educated in this field and I am not being negative this is purely a curiosity question.
Yes, Margarita, there are drugs that are identified as “contraception” but actually prevent implantation, not conception. These drugs are also morally problematic for the same reason: destroying an already-formed embryo before it has a chance to implant.
Thank you so much for a great article! I am an OB nurse, and I have many patients who cannot take BCPs b/c of issues like MTHFR or clotting issues. I am thankful for your research, and the time you give us.
Who are we to say when life begins? Are we ultimately the Creator of it? By doing something to your body or taking something after you have had sex to prevent pregnancy, you are admitting that ‘something’ (a baby) could have been made.
Well, from this passive aggressive comment it looks like you think YOU are the one to say when life begins.
Not me. God. “You formed me in my mother’s womb…..I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (from Psalm 139) Pretty sure I don’t want to be messing with what God has created.
So YOUR interpretation of what God means.
My God ever so slightly disagrees with yours. Get over yourself.
Sarah, thank you so much for writing this post. This information may prove to be very useful in my future.
I think it is wrong to say that this information will cause women to make rash decisions that they will regret later. There are many example of information that can be used for good or bad, but that does not mean we should deprive ourselves of knowledge. If anything, having this information will encourage women to think about their personal beliefs and be more responsible about potential pregnancy.
Hi Sarah, thank you for being brave and posting this information, it is valuable and helpful for a planet that is hugely overpopulated, and as a qualified medical herbalist I commend you for it, and also the way in which you have written it. I’m not going to add my two cents worth to the raging debate your posting has created, but I would like to thank you for educating women that there are reliable alternatives out there, that aren’t detrimental to our health.
I love your blog, you are amazing! Keep up the good work 🙂
I suggest visiting overpopulationisamyth.com.
Easiest natural family planning (albeit somewhat expensive) is the lady-comp personal computer. You take your temp every morning, it does the rest, whether you’re trying to prevent pregnancy or get pregnant. It’s brilliant!
Valerie, Thank you so much for mentioning the Lady-Comp Personal Fertility Monitor, I’d never heard of it! I read the reviews on Amazon for it, and I think it is just the Birth Control Method my husband and I have been searching for! It really does sound easy and reliable if used consistently.
Heather, we’ve been using it successfully for over a year. It’s been perfect for us! Very easy to just take one’s temp in the morning and go on with life. And helpful for pinpointing the best days later on if you do want to conceive.