Carollynn Aurilla Downer (née Chatham; October 9, 1933 – January 13, 2025) was an American feminist lawyer and non-fiction author who focused her career on abortion rights and women's health around the world.

She was inspired after watching a protest on the television held at the University of California, Los Angeles, about the lack of birth control services offered on the campus.

[7] The result of this first meeting of the Self-Help Clinic was the development of the concept of menstrual extraction and the invention of the Del-Em kit by Lorraine Rothman.

This provided women with a less traumatic abortion option than the use of a metal tool to scrape the inside of the uterus, which was predominately used at the time.

The menstrual extraction and vaginal self examinations that Downer pioneered with her team provided women with the means to learn about their bodies and take control of their reproduction.

Barbara Ehrenreich described Downer and Rothman's efforts as "legitimizing the notion that we have the right to know and decide about procedures...that affect our bodies and our lives.

"[6] In 1972 she also gave a notable speech to the American Psychological Association on September 5, 1972, in Hawaii, entitled "Covert Sex Discrimination Against Women as Medical Patients.

[11] Downer and Rothman also promoted group meetings where they taught women how to self-administer cervical exams and provided them with information on a procedure called menstrual extraction.

In 1972, the police conducted a search of Downer's clinic/health center and arrested her and Colleen Wilson for practicing medicine without a proper license.

In 1984, she and Francie Hornstein assisted Ginny Cassidy-Brinn, a Registered Nurse, in writing Woman-Centered Pregnancy and Birth, published by Cleis Press.

[23] It a structural response to the absolute authority of doctors, the objectification of women's bodies in health care, and the increasing dehumanization of the practice and field of medicine.

Self-Help gynecology was the basis of the movement's critique of the mystification of women's bodies and the monopoly of knowledge held by doctors.

[3] Other feminists worried this practice would take attention away from the other efforts of the women's health movement, such as legislative and judicial reform.

[3] Some were concerned that the self-help groups themselves were merely an outlet for women to air their grievances of mainstream medical institutions and did not involve any real change.

[26] By understanding their own bodies through observation and the sharing of their bodily experiences, self-help activists, like Downer, combatted negative perceptions.

"[27] The center eventually became a symbol of the struggle to legalize abortion and had an active part in the public dialogue about reproductive rights.

[27] The environment in the clinic itself had decorations on the walls, colorful rugs and plants, providing a relaxed atmosphere, with comfortable chairs arranged in a circle to facilitate conversations.

[27] On the ceiling above the examination table, there was a picture of a pretty landscape to help create a calming atmosphere for the women during procedures.

[2] The staff counseled the women before and after the abortion, and accompanied them into the procedure room to help walk them through the process and to offer emotional support.

Women who needed routine medical exams were able to choose whether they saw a gynecologist or a layperson supervised by a doctor, would educate them in self-exam and staying healthy.

The press release reported the raid and noted that "police also attempted to confiscate a carton of strawberry yogurt, but were deterred by the strenuous objectives of one of the center staff members, who stated 'you can't have that; it's my breakfast!

[27] The police charged Wilson for giving out birth control pills, hypodermic needles, pregnancy tests, for drawing blood, and for aiding women in fitting diaphragms.

"[25] Downer was also charged with practicing medicine without a license - she had helped activist Z. Budapest put yogurt into her vagina (a common home remedy for yeast infections at the time), and for showing a woman how to do a self-cervical exam.

[25][27] LA Deputy City Attorney David M. Schacter was convinced that the staff members at the clinic had been practicing medicine and insisted that all the procedures should have been performed by a qualified doctor.

[25] She argued that "if the state truly did enforce this law, a person could not pass a sneezing friend a tissue or bring over chicken soup for a cold.

"[25] She even asked a doctor involved in her trial if a mother diagnosing her child's illness would qualify as practicing medicine without a license, to which he replied: "Well, we can't do anything about that.

[25] Congresswoman Bella Abzug is reported to have stated that "the trial was nothing less than a test case to determine whether women were allowed to examine their own bodies.

"[25] Feminist anthropologist Margaret Mead is reported in the LA Times to have stated: "Men began taking over obstetrics, and they invented a tool... to look inside women.

[27] Downer had not even been at the clinic on the date that Dalton claimed they spoke,[25] having flown to Portland, Oregon that day to conduct a workshop at an American Psychological Association conference.

[25][27] Her attorneys successfully argued that the law was too vague and if it was truly followed, Downer and others would not have even been able to discuss a cold with a friend or "offer her a tissue.