Contributed by Jennifer Baumgardner
Back when there was no Morning After Pill or legal abortion but a radical women's liberation movement, Lorraine Rothman and Carol Downer were the Thelma and Louise of the "California Feminists." They made illegal abortion referrals, learned DIY gynecology, created the very first feminist women's health center, and were famous for whipping our specula and mirrors to show women how to look at their own vaginas and cervixes. In 1971, Lorraine Rothman invented the Del-Em, short for "dirty little machine," a device that could perform very early abortions using a Mason jar, aquarium tubing, and a syringe.
Sadly, Rothman died Tuesday, September 25, at her home in California, just a week after her diagnosis with bladder cancer. She was 75. Margaret Mead once congratulated Lorraine as having succeeded in producing the most original and important new product of the 20th century. While menstrual extraction and the Del-Em never became widely popular--in part because abortion became legal in 1973 and women didn't have to resort to home procedures anymore--the invention cemented Rothman's historical significance. Think of Lorraine and all she did while on earth whenever you see a Mason jar, a clinic, or your own cervix.
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Wow, great post. I'll have to do some more research on her!
While menstrual extraction and the Del-Em never became widely popular--in part because abortion became legal in 1973 and women didn't have to resort to home procedures anymore--
wow. I'd never known that such a machine existed. you'd think though, especially in today's climate of clinic protesters/bombers that having a private, inexpensive means of performing an abortion on your own terms (without the uterine scraping) would be appealing to most women. I mean, already some women in the south have to drive to another state for abortions and some states only have one clinic. Seems to me if things keep going the way they are then the Del-Em will come back into popularity.
I actually think having a safe, effective home abortion kit is the way to go. That way, anti-choice people will have absolutely no idea which women are having abortions and there's no hospital/clinic to scour for records or attack.
The Del-Em reminds me of the kit Vera Drake used in the (appropriately titled) Vera Drake movie. I always wondered what it was and how it worked.
And I totally agree about having an inexpensive way to do a home abortion, UltraMagnus. RU-486 can be pretty expensive. And the benefit of not having to deal with protesters would be great, too.
That women ever had to resort to a mason jar, tubing and syringe just shows how absolutely necessary legal abortion is.
Actually, the Del-Em sounds similar to the manual aspiration method that a lot of docs use for early abortions--safer, no machine, less cervical dilation, etc.
Three cheers in memory of Lorraine Rothman, but I have to admit that the thought of using aquarium tubing for an abortion squicks me out, probably because it brings visions of all the green algae-encrusted tubes out there--not exactly sanitary.
I know you could sanitize the tubes, but I'd still much rather have the doctor's-office option. But hey, for women and girls who don't have the option, the Del-Em probably sounds pretty good.
Remember in Fried Green Tomatoes when Kathy Bates was at that meeting with her girlfriend (as in "girlfriend!!") and the woman whipped out a mirror and Kathy Bates flipped out? I always took that as a negative cue. I was like, yeah, why the hell would I wanna look at my own vagina!
Anyway, thanks for the informational post. :)
I read about this when writing my senior thesis on Our Bodies, Ourselves. One thing that was interesting about the Del-Em was that although abortion was probably the main point, the idea of menstrual extraction was pretty attractive to me - get your whole period over in less than an hour!! I think another reason it never caught on was that it required some degree of training and you needed another person to operate the machine; it couldn't be done on yourself. Few women are comfortable enough to ask a friend to suction out their menstrual blood, and of those, I think a lot would be nervous they'd do something wrong. Though, MD, it was actually an extremely safe procedure; as far as I know there were no injuries or infections resulting from it. (I could be wrong about that last part, but that's what I read.)
"Three cheers in memory of Lorraine Rothman, but I have to admit that the thought of using aquarium tubing for an abortion squicks me out, probably because it brings visions of all the green algae-encrusted tubes out there--not exactly sanitary."
Isn't the idea to buy a new one and keep that for gynecological use, not to take one right out of the fish tank? I mean, places that sell aquarium supplies don't seem to pre-fishify every item before it's sold...
Memorial Services will be held for Lorraine Rothman at the Unitarian Church in Fullerton on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 12:00 P.M. Noon, hosted by Temple Beth Tikvah, 1600 N. Acacia Avenue, Fullerton, 92831. The choir that Lorraine sang in will sing. A reception will follow.
Reading some of the comments is so interesting, Many of the forces of the Second Wave know that given thecurrent Supreme Court, to have these instructions and items available. I carried a book on this procedure in my bookstore in the 70s. I was fortunate to know these women even then.
This is a very important woman in our health history. I will be at the service, hope you can make it. Carol Downer will be there too.
wow.
getting your period over with in one go. that's just...wow. fascinating and appealing.
the way this country is going, i'd be very interested in grassroots movements of women learning to do for themselves what they need to do to keep their reproduction autonomous.