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Rabbit test Wikipedia

For the 1978 film directed by Joan Rivers, see Rabbit Test (film)

The rabbit test was an early pregnancy test developed in 1927. It consisted of injecting the tested woman's urine into a female rabbit, then examining the rabbit's ovaries a few days later, which would change in response to a hormone only secreted by pregnant women. The hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), is produced during pregnancy and indicates the presence of a fertilized egg; it can be found in a pregnant woman's urine and blood. The rabbit test became a widely used bioassay (animal-based test) to test for pregnancy. The term "rabbit test" was first recorded in 1949 but became a common phrase in the English language.

Modern pregnancy tests still operate on the basis of testing for the presence of the hormone hCG. Thanks to medical advances, use of a rabbit is no longer required.

It is a common misconception that the injected rabbit would die only if the woman was pregnant. This lead to the phrase "the rabbit died" being used as a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test. In fact, all rabbits used for the test died, because they had to be surgically opened in order to examine the ovaries. While it was possible to do this without killing the rabbit, it was generally deemed not worth the trouble and expense. One notable exception, albeit fictional, is an episode of the television series M*A*S*H (television series)|M*A*S*H. A rabbit belonging to Radar O'Reilly was used to test for pregnancy in Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan. To assuage Radar, rather than killing the rabbit, Hawkeye Pierce performed surgery under anesthesia.

The Aerosmith song "Sweet Emotion" refers to the test: "Can't catch me 'cause the rabbit done died."

Last Modified:   2006-10-01