lorraine rothman

A pioneer of the modern women's movement died last week.

Lorraine Rothman, whose death was announced yesterday, was a founder of the feminist health movement known as Self-Help. In 1971, with Carol Downer, Rothman invented the Del-Em, a menstrual extraction kit. Del-Em was short for "Dirty Little Machine"; it consisted of a Mason jar, aquarium tubing, and a syringe. In those pre-Roe days, any person trained in its use could provide an early abortion. If you saw the movie "Vera Drake," you know the idea.

Rothman is quoted as saying, "What did women do before there were doctors? Let's stop the humiliation of trying to persuade the powers that be to legalize abortion. Let's just take back the technology, the tools, the skills and the information to perform early abortions and be in charge of our own reproduction."

Here are Rothman's Wikipedia entry, her obituary in the New York Times, and a brief tribute to her on Feministing, written by a former colleague of mine from the Haven Coalition.

If you're interested in Rothman and Downer, you might want to read about the Jane Clinic, a chapter of American women's history that deserves to be better known. The story of this self-help clinic in the Chicago suburbs is told in a documentary - "Jane: An Abortion Service" - and in Laura Kaplan's book, The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service.

The anti-choice movement in the US, with its powerful ties to and within government, has revived the need for radical solutions to women's health. Sadly, but importantly, Lorraine Rothman's legacy is alive today.