the seriousness with which the Oath was written and taken has been questioned by some who find evidence that Hippocrates himself indicated means of abortion for those who wanted it.7 Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that most Greek physicians opposed all non therapeutic abortions.8 An abortive pessary was seen as a poison and rejected as an attack not so much on the fetus as on the woman. Whatever the source and integrity of the Oath, it won acceptance among Jews, Christians and Arabs; survived