The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from a Chinese document which records abortions performed upon royal concubines in China between the years 500 and 515 BC. [2] According to Chinese folklore, the legendary Emperor Shennong prescribed the use of mercury to induce abortions nearly 5000 years ago. Abortion, along with infanticide, was well known in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Numerous methods of abortion were used, "the more effective of which were exceedingly dangerous". Several common methods involved either dosing the pregnant woman with a near-fatal amount of poison, in order to induce a miscarriage, introducing poison directly into the uterus, or prodding the uterus with one of a variety of "long needles, hooks, and knives". Unsurprisingly, these methods often led to the death of the woman, as well as the fetus. There have been archaeological discoveries which would seem to indicate early surgical attempts at the extraction of a fetus; however, such methods are not believed to have been common, given the infrequency with which they are mentioned in ancient medical texts. Many of the methods employed in early and primitive cultures were non-surgical. Physical activities like strenuous labour, climbing, paddling, weightlifting, or diving were a common technique. Others included the use of irritant leaves, fasting, bloodletting, pouring hot water onto the abdomen, and lying on a heated coconut shell. In primitive cultures, techniques developed through observation, adaptation of obstetrical methods, and transculturation. So as far as I can tell, it's been around for quite a while.

Back in 2 kings 23:10. Jewish scholar David Kimhi (c. 1160-c. 1235) Discussing 2 Kings 23:10, where Topheth is mentioned, he wrote: “The name of the place where they caused their sons to pass through [the fire] to Molech. The name of the place was Topheth, and they said it was called thus because at the time of worship they would dance and strike tambourines [Hebrew, tup·pim´] so that the father would not hear his son’s cries when they were causing him to pass through the fire, and that his heart might not become agitated over him and he take him from their hand. And this place was a valley that belonged to a man named Hinnom, and it was called ‘Valley of Hinnom’ and ‘Valley of the Son of Hinnom’ . . . Josiah defiled that place, reducing it to an unclean place, to cast there carcasses and all uncleanness, that it might never again come up into the heart of a man to cause his son and his daughter to pass through in the fire to Molech.” In modern times, the god Molech is just a historical curiosity, and many doubtless find it hard to understand why people killed their children for him. Yet, adults today still seem ready to kill their young when it suits them. During this century, millions of youths have been sacrificed on the altar of war. Every year, untold millions of unborn babies are purposely killed in abortions, many of them because their conception was the result of casual sex or because their birth would interfere with the life-style of their parents. Thus, these children become sacrifices to the gods of sexual freedom and materialism.