Abortion is everywhere. Some women take abortion as a necessity, and a big decision to make. However, because of the guilt and a shameful act surrounding the procedure, women take a safe-home alternative to abort pregnancies. Thus, many of the women claim that Vitamin C causes abortion.
Source and background
The origin of the idea that Vitamin C induces abortion started in the 1970s. The idea is claimed to work with a high chance of success at the early stage up to the 4th week of the woman’s pregnancy, and after that, effectiveness is significantly reduced.
Some women suggest combining vitamin C and parsley whereas; parsley is drunk like tea or inserts it in the vagina. To this claim, parsley must touch the cervix to work well. However, Vitamin C is not effective for inducing abortion. No clinical evidence shows it is.
If you consider that Vitamin C causes abortion, remember the following:
Not effective
Vitamin C method is not effective for abortion in pregnant women, so keep in mind that Vitamin C does not induce an abortion.
In fact, Dr. Frederick Klenner, M.D gave a large dosage of Vitamin C to his patients who were pregnant women and found no complications during pregnancies and delivery.
He even gave a recommendation that during the first trimester or the three months of pregnancy, mothers should take 4, 000 mg of Vitamin C daily; 6, 000 mg in the second trimester; and 8, 000 to 10, 000 mg every day during the third trimester.
Some of the pregnant women had 15, 000 mg in their third trimester and there was no reported miscarriage in the group.
Besides, the nurses in the hospital around the Reidsville in North Carolina noted that the healthiest and the happiest infants were called as Vitamin C babies.
Another physician, Dr. Abram Hoffer, M.D reported the same cases. He observed that there is the complete absence of any birth effects in babies born to a mother who takes vitamin C.
No evidence
You will not find any evidence to support the claim that vitamin C is abortifacient. Today, if you Google for this question, you will find hundreds of results claiming that Vitamin C induces abortion.
However, this is not clinical evidence. In fact, this is just a claim from people who lack credibility.
Keep in mind that in this situation, your health and the baby’s health are at stake. It makes sense to choose a method that is clinically proven safe and effective.
In a study conducted by Vobecky JS, and et al. on “Vitamin C and E in Spontaneous Abortion,” it was found that when 50 women who were spontaneously aborted were compared with the similar number of pregnant women which pregnancy had been terminated, the biochemical parameters with particular attention to vitamin C and E levels.
It is shown that aborting women had a high value of alpha-tocopherol and there was no significant difference in the frequency of the distribution of Vitamin C in each of the group.
However, the mean values of Vitamin C at the end of the first trimester was high in the aborting group, and this is not an interpretation as evidence of the causal association.
Negative side effects
The maximum amount of Vitamin C, from the Merck Manuals Online Medical Library (2019), the ones tolerable by the body without any ill effects is 2, 000 mg per day. It says that anything above it can cause toxic or overdose.
Taking high dosages of Vitamin C has adverse side effects. These include diarrhea, cramps, constipation, fatigue, hemorrhage, kidney stone, trouble sleeping, and headache.
A common problem that occurs as a side effect of Vitamin C overdose is gastrointestinal problems and diarrhea and vomiting which lead to dehydration. This creates extreme fatigue, thirst, reduced blood pressure, and low urine.
Besides, diarrhea and vomiting can trigger an electrolyte imbalance in the body that leads to discomfort and danger in fatigue, muscle spasms, and heart palpitations.
The vitamin c becomes oxalate, and some of it is secreted through urine. However, a high level of the urinary oxalate causes the formation of the deposits which we call as kidney stones. This is the reason why 80% of all the kidney stones are accounted to a high intake of Vitamin C.
Another thing, regarding hemochromatosis, as we know this condition is caused by the excess of iron in the body, since vitamin C helps in absorbing iron, taking a high dose of it is to worsen the problem.
Not good for everyone
As mentioned from the Journal of the American Medical Association, (Levine et al., 1999) noted that Vitamin C does not produce harmful effects.
According to health professionals, it is mistakenly attributed to being harmful especially in scurvy, mutagenesis, infertility, hypoglycemia, and destruction of Vitamin B 12 because, the fact is that, deficiency in Vitamin C leads to scurvy and other diseases.
On the other hand, in another study I’ve read, it says that the high dosage of Vitamin C can be deadly. It means that although Vitamin C is good for the health, high doses of it may not be healthy.
The high doses of Vitamin C have an adverse reaction if you have kidney stones, sensitive kidneys, anemia, and deficiency in glucose. So when you attempt to take Vitamin C for abortion, do it at your own risk.
Ways for abortion
If you really think of going into abortion, follow the advice from the World Health Organization (WHO); use proven and safe means for abortion such as Vacuum Aspiration and Mifepristone and Misoprostol.
For pregnancies starting from 12 to 14 weeks of the gestation, the recommended method for surgical abortion is vacuum aspiration.
Moreover, the recommended medical abortion for pregnancy from gestational age to 9 to 12 weeks, about 63 to 84 days is mifepristone and misoprostol. The administration of mifepristone and misoprostol differs depending on the length of pregnancy.
These are only two of the recommended ways for abortion. The WHO gave more options on how to do it and how to take care of it properly to take care of yourself.
References
- Drink, Nutrition, and Supplements, (2019). Side Effects of a Vitamin C Overdose | Livestrong.com. [online] LIVESTRONG.COM. Available at: https://www.livestrong.com/article/421776-side-effects-of-a-vitamin-c-overdose/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
- MSD Manual Professional Edition. (2019). Vitamin C – Nutritional Disorders – MSD Manual Professional Edition. [online] Available at: https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/nutritional-disorders/vitamin-deficiency,-dependency,-and-toxicity/vitamin-c [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
- Orthomolecular.org. (2019). Not Taking Supplements Causes Miscarriage, Birthing Problems, Infant Mortality. [online] Available at: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v10n06.shtml [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
- Vobecky JS, e. (2019). Vitamins C and E in spontaneous abortion. – PubMed – NCBI. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/988001 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
- World Health Organization (WHO).Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems. Second edition. Available at URL [Accessed 14 Jan.]
Dr. Ahmed Zayed has a Bachelor's Degree in Medicine and Surgery. He has 8 years of experience in his field and obtained his MBBS after he graduated from the University of Alexandria in Egypt.