Pat Maginnis

Pat Maginnis is considered the first abortion rights activist in American history. She is one part of the Army of Three, the grassroots collective that would eventually become NARAL Pro-Choice America and that founded the Society for Humane Abortion. She is also a political cartoonist and painter.

Patricia Theresa Maginnis was born in 1928 to a staunchly Catholic family. During her brief military service, Maginnis was deployed to Panama as punishment for fraternizing with a Black soldier. She has described her time in Panama and the horrible treatment of pregnant women in the army hospital as her inspiration to advocate for women's reproductive freedoms during her life. She began her activism when she returned to the States, settling in the Bay Area in 1959.

Maginnis began her activism immediately upon her return to the United States. She canvassed in support of abortion reform bills before becoming dissatisfied with what she felt was the prioritization of medical professionals over women. By 1963, Maginnis had adopted a radical ideology which supported the repeal of all abortion laws which she felt diminished the rights of women and would hinder access to abortion for all women.

In 1962, Maginnis founded the Citizens Committee for Humane Abortion Laws (CCHAL) while she attended San Jose State University. She moved the organization to San Francisco in 1963 where she met Rowena Gurner who was to become a pivotal figure in the organization. In 1964, Gurner and Maginnis changed the organization's name to The Society for Humane Abortion (SHA) and in 1965 was incorporated as a non-profit organization in California. SHA advocated for "elective abortion," and that all women had the right to safe and legal abortion free of harassment and that "[the] termination of pregnancy is a decision which the person or family involved should be free to make as their own religious beliefs, values, emotions, and circumstances may dictate." The organization's radical nature meant that it believed in the repeal of all abortion laws, including the 1963 Humane Abortion Act aka the "Bielenson Bill," which made abortion legal in cases of rape or incest.

SHA provided public education on abortion "by sponsoring symposia on abortion procedures for physicians; providing speakers and literature to libraries, medical schools, physicians, family planning agencies, and individuals; and publishing a quarterly newsletter." Sponsored by the American Humanist Association, in 1968 SHA operated a free Post-Abortion Care Center (PACC). The organization was disbanded in 1975, two years after the decision in Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide and voided the Humane Abortion Act.

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