Marie Stopes | |
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Born | Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes 15 October 1880 Edinburgh, Scotland |
Died | 2 October 1958 Dorking, Surrey, England | (aged 77)
Education |
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Known for | Family planning and eugenics |
Spouses | |
Children | Harry Stopes-Roe |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Palaeobotany |
Institutions | University of Manchester |
Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant paleontology and coal classification, and was the first female academic on the faculty of the University of Manchester. With her second husband, Humphrey Verdon Roe, Stopes founded the first birth control clinic in Britain. Stopes edited the newsletter Birth Control News, which gave explicit practical advice. Her sex manual Married Love (1918) was controversial and influential, and brought the subject of birth control into wide public discourse. Stopes publicly opposed abortion, arguing that the prevention of conception was all that was needed,[1] though her actions in private were at odds with her public pronouncements.[2]
In reaction to her controversial beliefs, Marie Stopes International in 2020 changed its name to "MSI Reproductive Choices" with no other changes.[3]