Jewish Invention Myths: The Pregnancy Test

Our next ‘jewish invention’ myth is the idea that jews invented the pregnancy test, which unlike many such myths does have some basis in reality.

Since as ‘MNews’ states:

‘Bernhard Zondek – Pregnancy Test

Endocrinologist and gynecologist Bernhard Zondek developed the pregnancy test in 1927.’ (1)

The problem with this is that once again the proponent of this ‘jewish invention’ myth hasn’t done their homework since while Bernhard Zondek was indeed both jewish and created a pregnancy test; he did so with the help of his fellow jewish doctor Selmar Aschheim in 1928 not 1927. (2)

Nor was this the first pregnancy test as Olszynko-Gryn has observed although it was the first that saw truly widespread use. (3) Prior to the discovery of the Aschheim-Zondek test for the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) there were other pregnancy tests.

As Olszynko-Gryn writes:

‘Prior to the Aschheim–Zondek test, the most promising alternative to the intimacies of physical examination was radiography. A pioneering American handbook on obstetric radiography praised X-rays as ‘a very valuable aid in the diagnosis of pregnancy’, especially for differential diagnosis, but also to ‘dissipate’ the ‘scandalous’ stories told by ‘venomous gossip-mongers’ about ‘single women or widows,’ as well as in court, for settling law-suits, libel cases, and ‘to disprove charges made in actions for divorce’.’ (4)

The problem with a lot of these tests – including X-Rays – was the expense involved (5) but also that the Aschheim-Zondek test was itself not particularly accurate – indeed the American doctor Georgeanna Jones was responsible for correcting Aschheim-Zondek’s claims about where hCG came from in 1939 (from the pancreas rather than the pituitary gland) – (6) and the reason that the test was widely adopted had a lot more due to its ability to pick up other medical issues and concerns rather than detect pregnancy. (7)

So, in other words jews didn’t develop the first pregnancy test but two jews were responsible for creating an early and widely used pregnancy test that wasn’t in reality very good at detecting pregnancies.

References

(1) https://mnews.world/en/news/the-great-jews-and-their-inventions

(2) ‘Aschheim-Zondek Test’ in Morris Fishbein (Ed.), 1976, ‘The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia’, 18th Edition, Vol. 1, H. S. Stuttman: New York, p. 139

(3) Jesse Olszynko-Gryn, 2014, ‘The demand for pregnancy testing: The Aschheim–Zondek reaction, diagnostic versatility, and laboratory services in 1930s Britain’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Vol. 47, Part B, pp. 233-234

(4) Ibid., pp. 240-241

(5) Ibid., p. 238

(6) Marian Damewood, John Rock, 2005, ‘In memoriam: Georgeanna Seegar Jones, M.D.: her legacy lives on’, Fertility and Sterility, Vol. 84, No. 2, p. 541

(7) Olszynko-Gryn, Op. Cit., pp. 245-246