The men who fought for choice
Men played an important role in birth control, abortion rights movements
(William Douglas, the most liberal justice to ever sit on the Supreme Court, was one of its greatest champions for women in the branch’s history)
While women have rightfully led the reproductive rights movement since the days of Margaret Sanger, it’s important to note the significant role that men have played along the way as we continue to build a larger movement for choice.
Recently on Twitter, Gillian Frank–an expert on the history of sexuality–asked if someone would write an essay on the impact men have had on repro rights. So I thought I’d take a stab.
The most obvious example would be Alan Guttmacher, the folksy and charming leader of Planned Parenthood during the years that followed Margaret Sanger’s tenure. Guttmacher had a manner of speaking that appealed to the everyday man and woman. His charm belied a determination to secure women the right to both birth control and abortion.
Guttmacher’s interest in birth control started in the 1930s while he practiced in Baltimore. He believed that every woman had a basic right to decide whether she wanted a child. He felt poor people should have the same access to birth control as wealthy women. He thought that abortions should be a decision left to a woman and her doctor.
Guttmacher became one of the preeminent leaders in the politics of reproductive rights. Some viewed him as an evangelist. He traveled extensively, including to Africa, where he brought contraceptives. He raised money for birth control clinics in Pakistan. Catholic leaders condemned him. Some in the birth control movement thought him egotistical but admitted that he was persuasive.
Then there was Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, who penned the seminal Griswold v. Connecticut opinion, that gave married couples the right to birth control. Douglas was the staunchest liberal in the court’s history, with more dissents and opinions than any judge before or since. The First Amendment absolutist also had more marriages and divorces than anyone who sat on the court. Despite his life away from the chambers, he was one of the greatest champions of women’s rights as well marginalized communities to ever sit on the body.
Of course, it goes without saying that his fellow Justice Harry Blackmun was important–he was the one who wrote the Roe v. Wade opinion, which grew out of Douglas’ reasoning and establishment of the right to privacy. For pushing the court to support the right to an abortion, Blackmun faced harassment and death threats during the remainder of his life. Someone fired a bullet through his home’s window in the 1980s, though police were uncertain as to whether that was part of the antiabortion terror. Letters at the Library of Congress that came to his desk show many grateful women and outraged people. He polarized legal circles.
Bill Baird, a pioneering birth control activist in the 1960s who remained important throughout his life, is an example of the type of person on the ground who made a difference. Baird faced death threats and malicious rumors during his career fighting for women’s reproductive freedoms. Other major leaders, including Merle Hoffman, praised Baird for his efforts.
Then there were those who gave their lives–David Gunn, John Britton, Barnett Slepian and George Tiller. They provided women with abortions and were willing to assume the risks that come with leadership in abortion politics. All perished because of antiabortion terror.
Those are just a few that have made a significant contribution to advancing women’s rights and feminism. There are countless more. And hopefully many will take up the challenge in the future.