Looking Back to Look Forward: Learning from the Boston Women’s Health Center in a Post-Dobbs World

On Friday, June 24th, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A contested court case that faced controversy since it was decided in 1973, Roe v. Wade was the only constitutional protection for abortion rights in the United States. According to the Supreme Court ruling, the 14th Amendment protects a constitutional right to abortion.^[1] Because interfering with a pregnant patient and their doctor would violate their privacy rights, the Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the United States. Unfortunately, these protections are no longer guaranteed. The Dobbs decision reevaluates abortion in light of other factors that allow it to invalidate Roe.^[2] It was a devastating blow to the nation and shook the foundation of our rights as Americans.

In the summer of 2022, in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, I began my research project on women’s health in the Greater Boston area. I was especially interested in feminist organizing and how this activism changed over time. After Dobbs, I became more interested in how women operated in a pre-Roe vs. Wade country. What did women do to support their health and healthcare? What could that tell us about our post-Roe nation? What did they do, and what could we do about it? Boston in the 1970s can act as a critical case study, creating a blueprint for essential intersectional activist strategies. As modern women and feminists, we can learn a lot from the interdependence and collaboration of feminist organizations during this time.

Throughout the 1970s, feminist activists in Boston concerned themselves with women’s health issues. They organized rallies, protests, and clinics to support abortion access and reproductive justice. Boston sat at a unique epicenter of reproductive rights activism. At the time, it was illegal to get an abortion in Massachusetts.^[3] To circumvent these unjust policies, women began organizing feminist collectives. These ranged from consciousness-raising groups to newsletters and even a woman-run cafe.^[4] The ultimate goal was to create space for women, by women, and to engage in active political organizing. Many of these activities were part of a broad movement in feminist organizing that included abortion as a central issue but was not limited to it.

There was also a significant rise in evangelical Christian, anti-abortion activism, which coincided with the implementation of homophobic practices and policies by the local government.^[5] For example, Anita Bryant^[6], a New Right activist, began a campaign to ban abortions and “gay activities.”^[7] Though Bryant was not from Boston, she became the face of the opposition within the city. According to multiple articles in the Gay Community News, one of the first LGBT newspapers in the country and the first in Boston, Bryant’s rhetoric sparked oppositional organizing, making the city unsafe for many LGBT people.^[8] There was an urgent need for support as people’s rights began slipping away. Boston-area activists acknowledged that people needed more than just abortion care; they had to have all their rights met to succeed in society.

The Cambridge Women’s Center

One organization that became central to these efforts was the Cambridge Women’s Center (CWC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Cambridge Women’s Center began in 1971 after activists took over an abandoned Harvard building.^[9] There, these women built one of the longest-standing women’s centers in the country. I had the pleasure of interviewing Libby Bouvier, the archivist for the center and a longstanding member of the group. Together, we discussed the organization’s founding, how they supported women’s healthcare access, and what women did to support one another.

I interviewed Bouvier in June 2022 at the archives of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. It was about a week before the Dobbs vs. Jackson decision, and questions about the future were at the forefront of our minds. We first discussed the center’s history and how and why it was created. From there, she discussed many of the programs at the center, which typically involved consciousness-raising groups and community networks. Bouvier described these groups as discussing “many issues,” such as “women under 30… lesbian groups…” and how some of them “ran for years.”^[10] During consciousness-raising groups, women would come together to share their feelings about an issue and discuss ways they could solve it. They also set the groundwork for developing other organizations. Many major players in the feminist movement developed at the Cambridge Women’s Center. Bouvier described how the “Rape Crisis Center” and the “Abortion Action Coalition” both had origins at the center.^[11] The “Rape Crisis Center” (now called the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center) adopted many techniques earlier feminists used to engage in pro-abortion work.

During our talk, I was struck by the Cambridge Women’s Center’s community-based work. In addition to their work regarding abortion care, which included phone lines that could give women information about how to access abortion care in states where it was legal, they also provided significant support for rape crisis work, lesbian healthcare, and workplace discrimination.^[12] During a separate interview, feminist activist Professor Rochelle Ruthchild acknowledged how these “phone lines” at the CWC would set the groundwork for community organizing nationwide.^[13] Not only did it become a tangible method to conduct activist work, but it set a precedent for inclusive leadership. As Professor Ruthchild noted, many of the phone line workers from the CWC “were lesbians.”^[14] They acknowledged that, for women to be healthy, they needed to have their needs met. Every feminist concern was also a health care concern. These women paid attention to the complexities and intersectionalities of women’s lives and empowered them to use that in their activism.

The CWC often encouraged women to seek healthcare outside of traditional medicine, taking a more holistic approach. Many of the organization’s newsletters referenced community-based support and encouraged women to work with one another (some example newsletters can be found here). In the first issue of the newsletter from 1971, writers encourage their readers to seek feminist-based medical care.^[15] They describe various “women’s health collectives” and “feminist study groups” that allow women to access accurate gynecological information.^[16] They also described different “lesbian groups” that could provide a less straight-centric focus on women’s health.^[17] These organizations shifted the power dynamic back into the hands of women and empowered them through knowledge and information.

Why Women Needed the CWC

In Boston during the 1970s, it was common for women to have difficulties finding good health care. According to the women I interviewed, gynecologists tended to be white and male, which complicated getting the needed support.^[18] Women often described feeling dismissed by male medical professionals.^[19] Professor Amy Hoffman, a feminist activist from this period, described feeling “attacked” and “unheard” by medical professionals, especially as a lesbian.^[20] Paula Garbino, a former Cambridge-based abortion provider and educator, told me about a lesbian patient who had worked with Catholic Charities after not being allowed to terminate her pregnancy.^[21] Paula mentioned how the patient had been gang-raped and how “becoming pregnant was not something on her mind…she was not sexually involved with men.”There was an increased need for more inclusive and women-dominated healthcare practices.

As tensions began to hit a boiling point, many women took their health into their own hands. The Boston Women’s Health Collective was famously formed during this time, publishing the seminal text Our Bodies, Ourselves. A multitude of women’s groups began forming coalition-based feminist organizations. These groups would organize clinics and support groups called “consciousness-raising groups” and produce publications of women’s writings.^[22] They were places for women by women and allowed them to discuss their concerns and plans for creating a better future. Many of these organizations called themselves “women’s centers.” They began breaking down the barriers that complicated access to proper healthcare.

What Can We Learn?

Studying the Cambridge Women’s Center and the broader Boston-area feminist movement allows us to reflect on how we understand reproductive rights today. Reproductive rights are not solely an abortion-only issue but a part of a much larger conversation around women’s rights and equality. We can create more robust care networks by considering reproductive justice through that lens. It can also provide an opportunity for the community while facing a rise in religious-based misogyny, something we desperately need today. Though it may feel like it, we are not alone. Women have always been doing the necessary work to provide essential care, and we can continue that path. If we curate networks that generate accurate and supportive healthcare information, we can mitigate some of the effects of misogynist legislation. While it may not be the final solution, it is at least a strong start.

Sara Slager

Sara Slager is an undergraduate at Simmons University studying Women’s and Gender Studies, History, and Elementary Education. Sara is also a researcher with the SURPASs program, where she explores the women’s health movement and how it transformed women’s access to healthcare. She is interested in oral history and how we can use past stories to educate ourselves about the future.

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