Crossing the Border for Abortions: California Activists, Mexican Clinics, and the Creation of a Feminist Health Agency in the 1960s

In 1966, abortion-rights activist Patricia Maginnis assembled a list of Mexican & Japanese physicians who performed abortions & began sharing this list with women in CA. In effect, she initiated the first open, illegal abortion referral service in the US. Because demand for the list skyrocketed, Maginnis & other activists created mechanisms to ensure that they were sending women to safe practitioners. They also formed the Assoc to Repeal Abortion Laws (ARAL). Maginnis & ARAL who helped to shape the feminist position on abortion law, were in the vanguard of the women's health movement, & contributed to the growing awareness that a legal ban could not stop abortion. 98 References. A. Funderburg