[5][2] In 1955, Karman, who at the time was working towards his doctorate in psychology and who was not licensed to practice medicine, used a speculum and a nutcracker to perform an abortion on a woman in a California motel room, who subsequently died.

The first trial of the super coil method was on Bangladeshi rape victims under the sponsorship of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

[4] Fifteen women in their second trimester traveled from Chicago to Philadelphia, where Dr. Kermit Gosnell—later convicted as a serial killer—used Karman's method to perform their abortions.

A public television crew from a station in New York City filmed the procedures at Karman's invitation.

At the time of his death at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California in 2008, it was still in wide use around the world.