Those products would have been just about within the reach of the servant class - but what happened - it was just SO sleazy - would be that they would take the cheapest, and nothing would happen, so there would be an attempt to upsell them on the pricier 'stronger' (still ineffective) pills. There was also the case of the businesses that were selling these things by mail-order and then sending blackmail letters to the women who bought them.

'Backstreet' abortion was widely available and some practitioners were very skilled: they just didn't have the backup if anything went wrong. Prices varied considerably but many women who did this saw it as 'helping out' unfortunate other women 'in trouble' - cf the movie Vera Drake.

There is a weird passage somewhere in Parade's End in which Edith-Ethel fears she has fallen pregnant by her lover and demands help from Valentine, on the grounds that the latter has worked as a servant and therefore Has Knowledge.