I heard an interview with Natalie Merchant years and years ago, now, and she sang part of a song sung from the perspective of a mother whose daughter had hung herself because she was pregnant and unwed, and in it she laments if the girls had only come to her she would have told her how to use the twig. I found this thread because I was hoping to find this song. Anyone have a guess?

Also- the willow twig- I'm guessing- would have been used not medicinally but in a more physical sense- right up the old hoo-ha. I mean, people have been doing abortions since before there were wire coat-hangers, right?

Just because a thing isn't right doesn't make it wrong, and vice versa. People forget that sometimes.    I enjoyed reading the responses from people that understand the complicated nature of this issue, and saddened by the ones who don't.