# coat hanger abortion: how? (don't need answer fast) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730 "2017-05-02T17:41:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/1 "2017-05-02T17:41:04Z")
AIUI, the stereotypical improvised/DIY abortion involved a coat hanger. Somehow. So how was it supposed to work? Was the idea to: -insert a loop of hanger wire into the uterus to try to ensnare the fetus and pull it out? -insert a loop of hanger wire into the uterus to try to scrape the placenta away from the uterine wall, resulting in fetal death and later expulsion? -insert a bare end of hanger wire into the uterus to try to impale the fetus (like a fish hook) and pull it out? -insert a bare end of hanger wire into the uterus to try to fatally injure the fetus, resulting in fetal death and later expulsion? -…something else? ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/2 "2017-05-02T17:54:45Z")
The answer is all of the above. I hope you do not need this answer for any real human being, because the chance for a horribly painful death is very very great. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/3 "2017-05-02T17:55:31Z")
It’s extremely dangerous and can kill the mother. [https://www.google.com/amp/s/drjengunter.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/anatomy-of-a-coat-hanger-abortion/amp/](https://www.google.com/amp/s/drjengunter.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/anatomy-of-a-coat-hanger-abortion/amp/) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/4 "2017-05-02T18:08:51Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I hope you do not need this answer for any real human being, because the chance for a horribly painful death is very very great. Nope, just curious. “back-alley abortion” and “coat hanger” are permanently associated with each other, but I’ve just never seen the details explained. > [@aceplace57](#): > > [Anatomy of a coat hanger abortion – Dr. Jen Gunter](https://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/anatomy-of-a-coat-hanger-abortion/) Thanks, that write-up was helpful. Not clear though whether the abortion happens because the fetus is infected, or because the uterus is infected. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/5 "2017-05-02T18:21:34Z")
Although I’ve never done a back-alley abortion, AIUI, the technique is similar to a D&C (dilation and curettage) only much simpler/cruder than would be done in a hospital. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/6 "2017-05-02T18:24:24Z")
In the late 1980s, I knew a woman who worked in the pathology lab at a local hospital (in a city that had an abortion clinic, BTW). She saw evidence of self-induced abortions all the time anyway, and the most common method was a canister vacuum cleaner. The results were usually very grisly; I was personally surprised that something like this would work. I certainly wouldn’t have thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/7 "2017-05-02T20:27:41Z")
There was a thriving cottage industry prior to Roe v Wade. Sinatra’s mother, a midwife allegedly performed abortions in New Jersey. I’d assume some of these people developed reputations for being reliable and not maiming or killing their patients. Certainly better than DIY. A modern doctor’s clinic is still safer. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/8 "2017-05-02T22:42:20Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > A modern doctor’s clinic is still safer. True dat. To do a first trimester abortion, all it takes is the same equipment that’s used to do a diagnostic D & C (dilation and curettage), which is done routinely all over for dysfunctional uterine bleeding evaluations. A dilator is used to open up the cervix enough to insert a curette, which scrapes out the uterine lining for evaluation. Quite simple, and if basic medical sanitation procedures are employed, pretty damn safe. In the ‘coathanger’ abortion, the coathanger wire substitutes for both the dilator and the curette, in horribly, horribly inadequate and inappropriate ways. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/9 "2017-05-02T22:46:19Z")
My uterus winces just reading this thread…and I don’t even have one. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/10 "2017-05-03T02:44:40Z")
I was always under the impression it was to puncture the amniotic fluid sac. Having said that, I went and researched it a bit to make sure that was why. While reading, I came across several websites that describe what back alley abortions are, the risks of them, the dangers to the mother, etc. Reading that made me stronger pro-choice. Women shouldn’t have to do things like that to terminate a pregnancy if they are going to terminate it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/11 "2017-05-03T04:52:52Z")
The last time I answered this question, my reply was cornfielded and whoever it was who moderated said I should not be dispensing medical advice. Google “dilating rods” and learn of sterile procedure and then back-think how you would proceed if coathangers, and not dilating rods, was what you happened to have on hand. A speculum would be highly useful. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/12 "2017-05-03T07:14:45Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > The last time I answered this question, my reply was cornfielded and whoever it was who moderated said I should not be dispensing medical advice. Google “dilating rods” and learn of sterile procedure and then back-think how you would proceed if coathangers, and not dilating rods, was what you happened to have on hand. A speculum would be highly useful. Well, that and the number of the nearest funeral home. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coat-hanger-abortion-how-dont-need-answer-fast/785730/13 "2017-05-03T15:18:28Z")
Well, yeah. I donate what I can afford to donate to Planned Parenthood and to that consortium that’s trying to take up the slack created by the reinstatement of the gag rule. It needs to be legal in order to be safe. The coat-hanger thing (or so I was taught) ranged from being akin to emergency battlefield surgery performed by underequipped doctors under bad conditions (at best) to extremely dangerous quackery & butchery performed by opportunistic assholes who didn’t know or care about sterile fields or much of anything else.