Editing Clothes hanger (section)

==Unintended uses==
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2024}}
The wire is versatile, and wire clothes hangers are often used as cheap sources of semi-tough wire, more available than [[baling wire]] for all sorts of home projects. The use of wire clothes hangers for use as makeshift welding rod has been common for nearly 100 years. Similarly, many similar [[do-it-yourself]] and children's projects use wire hangers as holders of various types, from keeping a brake caliper from hanging by the brake line during auto repair work to securing a gate on a birdcage. The much-loved '[[Advent crown]]' made for children's TV program ''[[Blue Peter]]'' was made from four-wire coathangers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/bluepeter/valpetejohn/scrapbook/page1.shtml|title=BBC - I Love Blue Peter - Trivia about Valerie Singelton, John Noakes, Peter Purves|website=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=23 April 2018}}</ref> Coathangers can be used to make [[dowsing]] rods.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Dowsing-or-Divining-Rods|title=How to Use Dowsing or Divining Rods|website=wikihow.com|access-date=23 April 2018}}</ref> After sanding, wire hangers also find uses as conducting wire for uses as varied as [[hot-wiring]] cars to games<ref>[http://staff.washington.edu/chudler/chmemory.html#learn Neuroscience for Kids] University of Washington</ref> to testing hand steadiness. They are commonly used to gain forcible entry into older automobiles whose locks and entry systems are not protected from such methods. There is a long history of using wire coat hangers as replacement car radio antennas. Clothes hangers are also commonly used as an implement for roasting [[marshmallow]]s or [[hot dog]]s at [[camp-out]]s.

[[File:Frankfurt Women's March 2017 - Abortion Poster.jpg|thumb|Abortion poster with wire hanger during [[2017 Women's March|Women's March]], [[Frankfurt]], 2017]]
''[[Collecticus]]'' magazine reported in October 2007 that clothes hangers have now become collectible, especially those with a famous company or event advertised across the front. For example, a 1950 [[Butlins]] hanger sold for £10.10 in October 2006 within ''Collecticus''.

In 1995, while performing surgery in an airliner at {{convert|35,000|ft}}, orthopedic surgeon [[Angus Wallace]] and his fellow doctor Tom Wong used an unfolded coathanger, sterilised with brandy, as a [[trocar]] to stiffen a [[catheter]] for use as a [[chest tube]] to relieve a passenger's [[pneumothorax]].<ref>Anstead, Mike (9 June 2006). [https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jun/09/worldcup2006.sport14 "The Scot who raised England's hopes"]. ''[[The Guardian]]''. London.</ref><ref name="BMJ">{{cite journal|first1=W. A.|last1=Wallace|first2=T.|last2=Wong|first3=A.|last3=O 'Bichere|first4=B. W.|last4=Ellis|title=Managing in flight emergencies|journal=British Medical Journal|volume=311|issue=7001|pages=374–376|date=1995-08-05|doi=10.1136/bmj.311.7001.374|pmc=2550436|pmid=7640548}}</ref>

Straightened-out wire clothes hangers have been used to perform [[Unsafe abortion|unsafe]] and/or [[illegal abortion]]s (frequently  [[self-induced abortion|self-induced]]) by inserting the wire through the cervix and into the uterus, in order to cause the uterus to expel its contents. This life-threatening method poses severe risks to the person on whom it is performed.<ref name="Fielding">{{Cite news |last=Fielding |first=Waldo L., M.D. |date=3 June 2008 |title=Repairing the Damage, Before Roe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/health/views/03essa.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=26 June 2022}}</ref> At [[pro-choice]] protests, wire clothes hangers have been used as symbols of the danger of criminalizing elective abortion.<ref name="Fielding"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Oakley |first=Doug |date=9 December 2009 |title=Berkeley council sends coat hangers to protest health care bill's abortion restrictions |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/12/09/berkeley-council-sends-coat-hangers-to-protest-health-care-bills-abortion-restrictions/ |work=[[The Mercury News]] |location=San Jose, Cal. |access-date=26 June 2022}}</ref>