Queen Anne's Lace for Pregnancy Prevention
Have you met Queen Anne’s Lace before?
Also known as wild carrot, Daucus Carota is an abundant and wise ally for our reproductive sovereignty.
She has a long history of use as an implantation inhibitor— meaning she can disrupt a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.
How does this work?!
She is an emmenagogue (encourages menstruation) as well as a progesterone inhibitor —disrupts the uterine to prevent implantation!
She does NOT interrupt a potential pregnancy itself. Instead, she can disrupt our hormonal environment— She is all about sovereign choice.
If you’ve had s e x in your fertile window where you think conception could be a possibility, and you want to avoid pregnancy, that’s a time for Queen Anne!
The seeds can be consumed in a tea, tincture, or my favorite: simply chewing a teaspoon of the seeds.
While it seems like a paradox, Queen Anne’s Lace also has fertility-enhancing properties, and can support cervical mucus production and clearing the womb of stagnant blood.
The difference in effect comes down to TIMING and RELATIONSHIP.
Plants are sentient beings— they are not pills.
As with any herbal ally for avoiding pregnancy, I like to build a relationship with a plant first, before calling on it to assist me!
For timing, using Queen Anne’s Lace to prevent pregnancy requires introducing and removing the herb from your system. While there are different protocols, the one I used for years to avoid pregnancy included:
1 tsp dried seeds 8 hours after s e x
1 tsp 8-12 hours later
1 tsp 8-12 hours later
*small* cohort studies have found QAL to be 90-100% effective, when used with intention and relationship. Check out Robin Rose Bennett’s study here.
If you’re into foraging, please make sure you’re 100% sure about what you’re identifying before harvesting. Queen Anne’s Lace has some poisonous look-alikes, including Water Hemlock. (Check out my IGTV video where I show you how to identify Queen Anne.)
And if you’re ready to dive deep into your total womb health and sovereignty, I teach a deep dive on plant allies for reproductive sovereignty inside The Womb Room through the Sovereign Cycles course– it’s available for you to drop into, anytime.
*as always, you are sovereign. Know your own risk tolerance, full-body yes, and do your own research. Nothing is 100%!*