Colombian woman hospitalised after using potato as contraceptive
Woman believed putting a potato in her vagina would prevent pregnancy – and then it germinated
A 22-year-old Colombian woman was hospitalised after trying to use a potato as a form of contraception, it has emerged. The unnamed woman began to suffer in pain after the tuber germinated inside her.
The woman was complaining of abdominal pains when she sought medical help, the New York Daily News reports. She told doctors: "My mom told me that if I didn't want to get pregnant, I should put a potato up there, and I believed her."
The newspaper says the potato had been inside her body for around two weeks. The pain was caused by the tuber germinating inside her and beginning to grow roots.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It has now been removed and doctors say there should be no lasting ill effects for the young woman.
Colombia has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Latin America, the paper says. Each year, about 9 per cent of the country's teenagers become pregnant.
The Colombian Reports website observes that the young woman's ignorance shows "a concerning lack of education for young people" despite sexual education being obligatory in the country since the 1990s.
The site says Colombia is a "macho society" in which girls are "often pressured into having unsafe sex" and blames this for the high level of teen pregnancies.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of Christmas
Cartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Inside the house of Assad
The Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
By The Week UK Published
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Russia's shadow war in Europe
Talking Point Steering clear of open conflict, Moscow is slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Nato rivals to see what it can get away with.
By The Week UK Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
Talking Point Kremlin's newest ballistic missile has some worried for Nato nations
By The Week UK Published
-
Russia vows retaliation for Ukrainian missile strikes
Speed Read Ukraine's forces have been using U.S.-supplied, long-range ATCMS missiles to hit Russia
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published