ME was developed and used before the "Roe v. Wade" Supreme Court decision legalized abortion in 1973. In order to avoid legal issues, Downer and Rothman downplayed the device's potential use as an abortion method. They called new technique "menstrual extraction" or "ME" to highlight its harmless use in suctioning out menstrual blood and tissue. To further emphasize the innocuousness of ME, "the procedure was only performed when a woman’s period was due, and they wouldn't take a pregnancy test beforehand. That way, everyone had plausible deniability."