1955: Planned Parenthood organizes a conference, "Abortion in
the United States," that includes testimony from sex researcher
Alfred Kinsey, abortionist G. Lotrell Timanus and Planned
Parenthod's then-medical director Mary Calderone. A record of
the conference is published in 1958, launching a national
discussion on reformed abortion laws. 1960s: Pat Maginnis founds
the Society for Humane Abortion, later becoming one of the first
people to publicly campaign for legalizing abortion. "They
thought she was insane," Reagan says of Maginnis' fellow
abortion-rights advocates. "They're trying to start talking
about reform... and having her out there was hurting them."
1962: Sherri Finkbine, an Arizona mother of four, travels to
Sweden after a local hospital denies her request for a legal
abortion. Finkbine had taken the drug thalidomide, which
researchers linked to birth defects. The hospital was initially
going to perform the procedure but withdrew its offer after
Finkbine told her story to the local newspaper in h