As the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade approaches on Jan. 22—and with the the Supreme Court set to revisit women’s fundamental right to access abortion in the Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole case, the most serious threat to abortion since 1992—the Ms. Blog decided to look back at the realities of illegal abortion pre-Roe, and for women today […]
Search Results for: 1970
10 Things American Women Could Not Do Before the 1970s
It turns out that before the 1970s, an American woman could not…
Live-Blogging Women’s History: March 30, 1970
March 30, 1970: The New York State Assembly today came within three votes of replacing the state’s 140-year-old ban on abortions–except those to save the life of the woman–with a bill that would make abortions a matter strictly between a woman and her doctor (through the 24th week of pregnancy). After the State Senate passed […]
Live-Blogging Women’s History: March 18, 1970
March 18, 1970: Just 48 hours after 46 women filed an E.E.O.C. complaint against Newsweek charging sexism, another and far more radical action has been taken against a mainstream media giant. “Never underestimate the power of a woman” is the motto of the Ladies Home Journal, so when more than 100 women occupied its offices […]
Live-Blogging Women’s History: March 16, 1970
March 16, 1970: The publishers of Newsweek now have more confirmation than they might want that their current cover story, “Women in Revolt,” is both accurate and timely. Forty-six women who work for Newsweek announced today that they have filed a complaint against the magazine with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging sex bias–the first […]
The Vagina Dialogues, Circa 1970
Before there was The Vagina Monologues, there were the pelvic instructors. These women, from Boston’s Women’s Community Health Center, were radical in not only instructing medical students in female sexual anatomy but in also using their own bodies as models. Their short-lived yet highly symbolic program took place from 1975 to 1976 at Harvard Medical […]
Whatever Happened to 1970s Lesbian-Feminism?
A montage of faces–“Women We Remember”–looking at turns impish, contented, self-assured and reflective appeared one after another on a screen. After the slideshow concluded, people in the standing-room-only audience shouted out names of other women they’d lost. As the chorus of voices died down, Sarah Chinn, director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies […]
When Women Went on Strike: Remembering Equality Day, 1970
Bold moves and high-risk strategies have been a feminist tradition since the days of Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony. But on March 20, 1970, when Betty Friedan gave her farewell address as outgoing president of NOW and called for a nationwide women’s strike on August 26 (the 50th anniversary of winning the vote), the […]
Inside Liberty University’s Secret Maternity Home
Imagine you’re a pregnant teenager in 1972. Abortion isn’t an option, and you’re not ready to get married… so you might turn to a maternity home for unwed mothers. You’ll live there until the baby is born, then give it up for adoption to redeem yourself from the so-called sin of premarital sex.
On June 23, podcast studio Wondery released the new series Liberty Lost, which investigates the well-kept secret of Liberty University’s Godparent Home, which opened in the 1980s and is still operating today. In the podcast, reproductive rights journalist T. J. Raphael explores the history of the maternity home on the campus of Liberty University, a private evangelical college in Lynchburg, Va. There, staff members coerce young girls into surrendering their babies for adoption by affluent Christian parents in exchange for a full-ride scholarship at Liberty.
“Maternity homes are on the rise,” Raphael told me. “There might be one near where you live, and maternity homes play a larger role within the wider antiabortion movement.”