It was used historically. Under the section for Ethnomedical Use is a link to the entry for “emmanogogue” which explains it better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmenagogue

I may be mis-remembering (I know, not a word) what I’ve read, but I think it was taken internally for abortion, and used as part of the coating mixture put on a sea-sponge which was basically the forebearer of the diaphragm. I don’t know how widely-known this method was, it may have only been something done by apothecaries.