| Background | |
|---|---|
| Abortion type | Surgical |
| First use | 1971 |
| Gestation | First trimester |
| Usage | |
| Developed and used in a feminist, non-medicalized context. | |
| Infobox references | |
Menstrual extraction (ME) is a type of manual vacuum aspiration technique developed by feminist activists Lorraine Rothman and Carol Downer to pass the entire menses at once. The non-medicalized technique has been used in small feminist self-help groups since 1971 and has a social role of allowing access to early abortion without needing medical assistance or legal approval.[1][2][3]: 406 ME usage declined after 1973, when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States. There has been renewed interest in the technique, in the 1990s and more recently in the 2010s, due to increased restrictions on abortion. In some countries where abortion is illegal, such as Bangladesh, the terms "menstrual regulation" or "menstrual extraction" are used as euphemisms for early pregnancy terminations.
- ^ Natural Liberty: Discovering Self-Induced Abortion Methods. Las Vegas, Nevada: Sage Femme!. 2008. pp. 30, 63–77. ISBN 978-0-9645920-0-1. Archived from the original on 2013-10-23.
- ^ Copelton, Denise A. "Menstrual Extraction, Abortion, and the Politics of Feminist Self-help". Advances in Gender Research. 8: 129–164. doi:10.1016/S1529-2126(04)08005-1.
- ^ Boston Women's Health Book Collective (1992). The New Our Bodies, Ourselves. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. ISBN 978-0-671-79176-6.