Colombian Woman Hospitalized For Potato Roots Growing In Her Vagina In DIY Contraceptive Fail

Women around the world go to inconvenient measures to prevent unplanned pregnancy, but one woman's efforts left her with potato roots growing her from her vagina. According to Colombia Reports, a 22-year-old Colombian woman was being treated for abdominal pain when doctors found a potato inside her vagina.

The woman, who hails from a central Colombian town called Honda, admitted to placing the potato inside of her after she was (inaccurately) told by her mother that the potato would serve as a contraceptive and prevent pregnancy.

"My mum told me that if I didn't want to get pregnant, I should put a potato up there, and I believed her," said the unnamed woman to the news outlet, reports Mail Online.

The doctors discovered that the potato had germinated inside the young woman and grown roots inside her. Fortunately, the doctors have concluded that the potato, and its growing roots, would not have any permanent damage to the young woman's health.

This odd medical case has highlighted the lack of awareness about sex awareness in Colombia, which reportedly makes sex education mandatory. According to research by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, who aim to reduce teen pregnancy, there is a significant shortage of awareness in the youth regarding contraception. Experts find the void of information about sex created by the lack of awareness and further enhanced by the fact that the youth and their parents do not discuss sex. In turn, many girls are coerced into practicing unsafe sex causing the levels of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies to be high in the South American nation.

"A recent campaign by Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) aimed at reducing the high levels of teenage pregnancy in Colombia stated that young people's general rejection of conventional contraception methods, such as condoms and contraceptive pills, coupled with a macho society which often saw girls pressured into having unsafe sex, contributed to a high level of unwanted teenage pregnancies," writes Colombia Reports, reports Jezebel. "The fact that a 22 year old women was no naïve as to believe that a potato was an appropriate and safe method of contraception shows a concerning lack of education for young people as to the options available for them when they become sexually active."