- Herbal remedies unlikely to terminate 24-week pregnancies – Amanda Marcotte debunks herbal abortion: “Any abortifacient herb that was processed with homeopathy wouldn’t work, because you’re drinking plain water, which is known to be safe for pregnancies.”
- Journal retracts paper that linked Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with retrovirus – “Subsequent studies by others and even retests by the original research team…failed to replicate the finding…”
- Pigeons are as good at higher math as monkeys – The great monkey vs. bird debate rages on! From Ryan.
- Is it rational to believe in god? – Reader Arnie found this pile of logical fallacies posted at Yahoo Philippines.
- Cute Animal Friday! From cute animal expert nowoo, the sloths are coming! How about a snowy white kiwi just in time for the holidays? And to complete the cute-gasm, naughty puppies opening presents before Christmas.
I… seriously?? Herbal/homeopathic stuff for terminating pregnancies?? SERIOUSLY?? Man, you’d be in for a rude surprise there. :/
Most of the time, probably yeah, but I think “herbs” includes stuff like jimson weed, deadly nightshade and hemlock, and a zillion other toxic plants. Some of them, I think, in low (but obviously not homeopathic) doses can terminate a pregnancy while not actually killing the woman. The good old naturalistic fallacy might cause some people to think these herbs can’t be dangerous because they’re all natural.
The thing that really got to me in this article was the extremes women have to go through to avoid prosecution and imprisonment in many repressive countries (including this one if certain religious groups and politicians have their way.) “As long as I don’t know I’m pregnant, I can take this drug or undergo this hygienic procedure to ensure my menstrual period proceeds as normal, and if I was actually pregnant, I have (in the eyes of the law and local culture) plausible deniability.” Any time people are forced to lie about something is a sign that some serious reality denial might be going on.