Pat Maginnis

Pat Maginnis was considered America's first abortion rights activist. She reshaped the debate around women's rights.

In the 1950s, she served as a surgical technician in an obstetrics ward in Panama. During this time, she saw the horrible treatment of pregnant women.

When she returned to the States, she immediately threw herself into activism. Through the use of radical, direct action she sought to make elective abortion accessible to all women who wanted one. Pat aimed for more than reform. She wanted a total system overhaul.

In 1962, she started the Society for Humane Abortion (SHA). SHA educated medical and legal professionals and operated a free post-abortion care center. 2 years later, she founded the Association to Repeal Abortion Laws (ARAL) with Rowena Gurner and Lana Phelan. Its mission was unprecedented: repeal abortion laws, endorse elective abortions, and offer women any resources they could in the meantime.

The women became known as the "Army of Three." They conducted organized civil disobedience campaigns. Getting arrested for distributing leaflets guaranteed a court case challenging the legality of local and state anti-abortion laws. But getting arrested wasn't the only goal; they had real information to distribute that was hardest to obtain for poor women of color.

The women led classes on how to conduct DIY abortions. They instructed women on every aspect of abortion: how to schedule one, how to prepare, what to expect, how it was done, how to respond to police interrogations if you had to be hospitalized, and how to perform your own. For those who could travel, they distributed "the List": an up-to-date directory of qualified abortion providers in Mexico, Japan, and Sweden.