[Abortion] was common during the early Roman empire. . . .and was practised for many reasons, e.g. for family limitation, in case of adultery, or because of a desire to maintain physical beauty. . . .Galen and Dioscorides mention many plant products used, either orally or by vaginal suppository, to provoke abortions. Some plants, e.g. aristolochia and squirting cucumber, can indeed have such effects. Mechanical methods were also used.

The emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla towards AD 211 introduced the first definite ban on abortion in Rome as a crime against the rights of parents, and punished it with temporary exile. The spread of Christianity changed attitudes. The Teachings of the Apostles, the first Christian document to mention abortion, condemned it, as did the Letter of Barnabas, Tertullian, and many later writers. Christians regarded abortion, once the foetus was fully formed (40 days after conception), as murder of a living being.