Pregnancy Detection: How Does It Work?
Hello everyone!
In today’s post, we wanted to discuss pregnancy tests and their history. While the first modern pregnancy test was not developed until the 1900s, humans have been able to determine when a woman is pregnant for thousands of years. According to an article by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the earliest written account of a pregnancy test was found in Egypt wherein it was recorded on papyrus (a type of parchment) that “a woman who might be pregnant could urinate on wheat and barley seeds over the course of several days: ‘If the barley grows, it means a male child. If the wheat grows, it means a female child. If both do not grow, she will not bear at all.’” This theory was put to the test in 1963, and studies found that “70 percent of the time, the urine of pregnant women did promote growth, while the urine of non-pregnant women and men did not.”
The reasoning behind this is believed to have to do with a chemical compound found in the urine of pregnant women, known as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Human chorionic gonadotropin is also known as the pregnancy hormone, and is created by the placenta. In 1967, the first modern pregnancy test was developed by 26-year-old Margaret Crane, and just like its ancient predecessors, it was able to determine if a woman was pregnant based on the amount of hCG in her urine. Unfortunately, “although Crane’s name is on the patent, because she was an employer of Organon, she earned no money.”, highlighting a setback for professional female scientists, and ultimately women as a whole.
Today, pregnancy tests are easy to get over-the-counter, and while the results can be nerve wracking, it’s important to remember decisions to complete or terminate a pregnancy are neither good nor bad, but simply human. Please stay tuned with us here at NutriNatal for more content around the pregnant experience.
