When I arranged my first illegal abortion for a friend in the mid-1960s, America looked even worse than it will look like after the current Supreme Court term ends. Abortion illegal in almost every state, with therapeutic abortion legal in some, including New York. Women resorted to illegal or self-induced abortions or, if they had the means, traveled abroad: Puerto Rico, Mexico, Europe, Japan. A two-tiered system developed, one for those with means and another for those without. Every public hospital had a septic abortion ward, or several, to try to save women who had been mutilated or infected. Illegal abortion was a dream for organized crime, who controlled much of the “business,” and a nightmare for doctors and women.

Starting in 1967, states began to eliminate or modify their abortion laws, including New York in 1970, which decriminalized abortion before 24 weeks. Four states repealed their abortion laws, and 13 states modified them. Thus 17 states saw some light. Roe came 3 years later. 

How many states post this Supreme Court term will see the light?

How many states will define a fertilized egg as a person?

How many will approve a Federal. constitutional amendment requiring this?

Will the Comstock Laws return?

Will Griswold be reversed?

Gay marriage outlawed?

The nightmare list goes on and on. 

Meanwhile, women will have the coasts (New York, California et al) and abortion pills. 

Political organization in Red and Blue States is vital.

Requiring corporations to pay for employee travel is a must.

Public service messaging on early pregnancy testing and the abortion pill is vital.

Strategic civil disobedience absolutely.

Remember the Comstocks of the world always come a cropper eventually. 

Margaret Sanger at Old South Meeting House

I was recently in Boston and found a life-size sculpture of my grandmother in the Old South Meeting House. The accompanying caption had her birthdate wrong (she always took years off her age – she was born in 1879) but it has a refreshingly positive summary of her life and work – to legalize birth control.

Mayor Curley indeed prohibited her speaking in Boston in 1923, 1924 and 1925. In 1925 the enlightened citizens of Boston held a meeting at Old South Meeting House to protest. He also banned the KKK since they were anti-Catholic, among other things. Curley was term limited, and his successor, Malcolm Nichols, continued the ban, and when in 1929 Ford Hall invited my grandmother and other illustrious radicals and rebels to speak at their annual banquet, only Margaret Sanger was prohibited from addressing the crowd. She strode onto the stage with a gag taped across her mouth and handed her speech to professor Arthur M. Schlesinger, who proceeded to read it.

From her speech April 16, 1929:

“To inflict silence upon a woman is supposed to be a terrible punishment. It is. But there are certain advantages and benefits to be derived from this awful punishment. . . . Silence inflicts thoughts upon us. It makes us ponder over what we have lost – and what we have gained. Words are, after all, only the small change of thought. If we have convictions, deep convictions, let us not waste them in words. Let us act them out. Let us live them!”

…

“I care nothing for Free Speech in and by itself. All of us place too much value on the power of the printed word and the power of the spoken word. We read too much. We listen too much. We live too little. We act too little. . . . I speak to you by my actions past and present. I have been gagged, I have been suppressed, I have been arrested, I have been hauled off to jail. Yet every time, more people have listened to me, more have protested, more have lifted their own voices, more have responded with courage and bravery. . . . As a propagandist, I see immense advantages in being gagged. It silences me, but it makes millions of others talk about me, and the cause in which I live.” 

In 1999, Barbara Walters called it “Perhaps this century’s first photo op.”

Roberta was the Board Chair of PPNYC for several years while I was President and CEO. She was one of a long line of dedicated, savvy and passionate board leaders that PPNYC was fortunate to have. She was unwavering in her support of abortion rights, marching on Washington, Albany and City Hall with the rest of us. She was a team player, consulting board and staff on all the issues we faced and how to surmount obstacles and move the agency forward collectively. She and I had weekly (or more often) in person meetings, keeping each other informed and working on strategies, both long term and short. Sometimes it wasn’t easy, but we were a team and had the utmost respect for each other. I cherished working with Roberta. And I cherished getting to know her husband Irv, to whom she was devoted. They were a great team.

After I left PPNYC for IPPFWHR, I would go to Roberta’s apartment for lunch. Public radio was always playing in the background. Roberta was always up on the news, politics and how we could hold politicians feet to the fire for abortion rights. She was a trouper until the end.

Sarah Weddington and I crossed paths several times over the years. The first was at the Carter White House in 1979, at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of my grandmother’s birth. It was a too dicey for President Carter to attend, so he delegated the ceremony to Sarah Weddington, his assistant on women’s issues. Faye Wattleton represented the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and several members of Congress attended, including Louis Stokes and James Scheuer. Sarah made some introductory remarks – she opened stating breathlessly that the President had just declared Mississippi a disaster area (Hurricane Frederic had hit the day before), and I said to myself, well, I’ve been to Mississippi and I knew that already. She was followed by Faye and then my father spoke. He told the story of his mother attacking a judge who was sentencing her for breaking the Comstock Laws. Dad said, “You men made those laws, we women didn’t!” This got big cheer from the assembled guests, which included most members of my extended family.

Sarah was most skilled dealing with the potentially unruly Sanger great-grandchildren. She handed out Roslyn Carter’s recipes for peanut brittle and other peanut delicacies while diplomatically escorting us to the exits.

In the 1990s, I invited Sarah to speak at the annual benefit for Planned Parenthood of New York City. She told of Norma McCorvey and the fight to get her a legal abortion. This was before McCorvey, who I later debated on television, switched to being anti-abortion and then switched back again just before her death. She was eloquent, smart, sassy and with a self deprecating sense of humor. Were are all in her debt.

My uncle Stuart Sanger, my father Grant Sanger (second from left), Faye Wattleton, Sarah Weddington, James Scheuer and Louis Stokes

The assembled Sanger family. I’m the fifth from the left.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/abortion-choice-life-pro-planned-parenthood-privacy-women-right-11637193303