Marie Stopes
by Radiyah Shakur
Marie
Carmichael Stopes was the leading advocate of birth
control in the 20th Century and opened the UK’s
first family planning clinic on 17 March 1921.
 In an
era when sex was for reproduction and not pleasure,
and many women were clueless to the functioning of
their own organs because sexual education did not exist,
Stopes offered something truly revolutionary. The free
clinic provided services to married women, which Stopes
saw as important on various levels. Stopes held the
opinion that married couples should be able to enjoy
sexual interaction without the risk of pregnancy. She
also thought that sex education could help reduce the
birthrate among women, considered by some to be a plight
that was keeping families poor.
In March 1918 Marie published Married Love, a book that
made her famous and sold over 2,000 copies in two weeks.
In it she expressed her views on feminism and marriage.
It was difficult for Stopes to find a publisher, being
turned away several times because of the content of her
book. The Roman Catholic Church in England opposed the
book, and even the United States declared the book obscene
and banned it.
Her second book Wise Parenthood was about contraception,
and was inspired by her meeting with American birth-control
campaigner Margaret Sanger. Marie Stopes' book upset
the leaders of the Church of England who believed it
was wrong to advocate the use of birth control. Roman
Catholics were especially angry, as the Pope had made
it clear that he condemned all forms of contraception.
Despite the opposition, Marie continued her campaign
and in 1921 founded the Society for Constructive Birth
Control. With financial help from her wealthy second
husband, Humphrey Roe, Marie also opened the first of
her birth-control clinics in Holloway, North London on
17th March 1921.In 1930 the National Birth Control Council
was formed.
Marie Stopes also campaigned for several other causes
during her life, including an attempt to stop education
authorities from firing married women teachers, and the
implementation of policies inspired by eugenics. She
also became involved in the battle to persuade the Inland
Revenue to tax husbands and wives separately. Throughout
the following decade she published many booklets and
pamphlets on the subject of birth control and parenting.
Marie Stopes died in 1958. Her legacy continues to live
on through the Marie Stopes International Global Partnership.
Today there is an international network of organizations
in 39 countries that provide sexual and reproductive
health information to over 4.3 million people worldwide.
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