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{{Short description|Pregnancy test}}
{{Other uses|Rabbit Test (disambiguation){{!}}Rabbit Test}}
{{redirect|Dead rabbit|the 19th-century New York gang|Dead Rabbits|the American band|The Dead Rabbitts}}
{{for|the statistical test|Friedman test}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
The '''rabbit test''', or '''Friedman test''', was an early [[pregnancy test]] that required killing and dissecting a rabbit to obtain the results. The test was developed in 1931 by [[Maurice Friedman]] and Maxwell Edward Lapham<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Journal of Endocrinology |volume=24 |issue=5 |date=1 May 1939 |title=The assay of gonadotropic extracts in the post-partum rabbit}}</ref> at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].

== Test ==
The hormone [[human chorionic gonadotropin]] (hCG) is produced during [[pregnancy]] and can be found in a pregnant woman's [[urine]] and blood; it indicates the presence of an implanted fertilized egg. An earlier test, known as the AZ test, was developed by [[Selmar Aschheim]] and [[Bernhard Zondek]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Morris Fishbein, M.D. |encyclopedia=The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia |title=Aschheim-Zondek Test |edition=Home Library |year=1976 |publisher=H. S. Stuttman Co |volume=1 |location=New York |pages=139}}</ref> When urine from a woman in the early months of [[pregnancy]] was injected into immature female [[mice]], their [[ovaries]] would enlarge and show [[Ovarian follicle|follicular]] [[Developmental biology|maturation]]. The test was considered reliable, with an error rate of less than 2%.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Evans |first=Herbert M. |author2=Simpson, Miriam E.  |year=1930 |title=Aschheim-Zondek test for pregnancy – its present status. |journal=Calif West Med |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=145–8 |pmc=1657362 |pmid=18741327}}</ref> Friedman and Lapham's test was essentially identical, but replaced the mouse with a [[rabbit]]. A few days after the injection, the animal would be [[Dissection|dissected]] and the size of her ovaries examined.

The rabbit test became a widely used [[bioassay]] (animal-based test) to test for pregnancy. The term "rabbit test" was first recorded in 1949, and was the origin of a common euphemism, "the rabbit died", for a positive pregnancy test.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/rabbit_test_the_rabbit_died/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191102160831/http://www.wordorigins.org:80/index.php/site/comments/rabbit_test_the_rabbit_died/ |archive-date=2 November 2019 |title=rabbit test / the rabbit died |last=Wilton |first=Dave|date=28 February 2007 |website=www.wordorigins.org |access-date=30 July 2018}}</ref> The phrase was, in fact, based on a common misconception about the test. While many people assumed that the injected rabbit would die only if the woman was pregnant, in fact all rabbits used for the test died, as they had to be dissected in order to examine the ovaries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dr Maurice Friedman 87 Dies Created Rabbit Pregnancy Test|last=Howe|first=Marvine|date=10 March 1991|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/10/obituaries/dr-maurice-friedman-87-dies-created-rabbit-pregnancy-test.html}}</ref>

A later alternative to the rabbit test, known as the "[[Lancelot Hogben|Hogben test]]", used the [[African clawed frog]], and yielded results without the need to cut the animal open.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/how-a-frog-became-the-first-mainstream-pregnancy-test/525285/|title=How a Frog Became the First Mainstream Pregnancy Test|last=Yong|first=Ed|date=4 May 2017|work=The Atlantic|access-date=30 July 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> Modern [[pregnancy test]]s continue to operate on the basis of testing for the presence of the hormone hCG in the blood or urine, but they no longer require the use of a live animal.

== In popular culture ==
* "[[Rabbit Test (film)|Rabbit Test]]" is a 1978 comedy film about the world's first pregnant man.
* "[[Rabbit Test (short story)|Rabbit Test]]" is a 2022 science fiction short story about abortion by [[Samantha Mills]], which won the 2022 [[Nebula Award for Best Short Story]]<ref name=SFWA>[https://nebulas.sfwa.org/nominated-work/rabbit-test Rabbit Test] at [[Science Fiction Writers of America]]; retrieved 10 August 2024</ref> and the 2023 [[Theodore Sturgeon Award]].<ref name=SturgeonAnnouncement>[https://locusmag.com/2023/08/mills-wins-sturgeon/ Mills Wins Sturgeon], in ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]''; published 25 August 2023; retrieved 10 August 2024</ref>
* "[[Sweet Emotion]]", a 1975 song by [[Aerosmith]], contains the lyric "You can't catch me 'cause the rabbit done died."
* "What's Up, Doc?" is an episode of the television series ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' which aired 30 January 1978 (S5 E20). A major plot point is [[List of M*A*S*H characters#Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce|Hawkeye]] managing to conduct a rabbit test to determine if [[List of M*A*S*H characters#Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan|Margaret]] is pregnant ''without'' killing [[List of M*A*S*H characters#Walter "Radar" O'Reilly|Radar's]] pet rabbit.
* "[[Emancipation (House)|Emancipation]]" is an episode of the television series [[House (TV series)|House, M.D.]] (S6 E08). The test is mentioned at the beginning of the episode, with House saying: "... a pregnancy test only takes five minutes and we no longer kill rabbits".
* "[[Hands and Knees]]" is an episode of the television series [[Mad Men]] (S4 E10). After [[Joan Harris|Joan]] informs [[Roger Sterling|Roger]] that she is pregnant, he asks whether she has had a rabbit test to confirm.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
*{{Cite Q|Q115596844}}

== External links ==
* {{WhoNamedIt|synd|1834|Aschheim-Zondek pregnancy reaction}}
* [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-rabbit-test/ The Rabbit Test] at [[Urban Legends Reference Pages|Snopes]]
* [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848613001763#s0020 The demand for pregnancy testing: The Aschheim–Zondek reaction, diagnostic versatility, and laboratory services in 1930s Britain, pages 240–241]
* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/10/17/rabbit-test-pregnancy/ An early U.S. pregnancy test involved sacrificing rabbits] at [[The Washington Post]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabbit Test}}
[[Category:Tests for pregnancy]]
[[Category:Rabbits|test]]