Marian Wright Edelman Quotes
Hope is the best contraceptive.
Edelman, Marian Wright. Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change. Harvard University Press, 1987, p. 19.
There were few reformers who had such a long, extensive, and activist career in both England and India. She began her career as a minister’s wife but was literally turned out of her house by her husband for whom she was not religiously orthodox enough. This started her religious activism which ended with her as an atheist. She led a match-girl’s strike, founded a Hindu college in India, and was even arrested for pornography in England when she wrote a book advocating birth control. She is on many lists of “Great Indians” along with Gandhi and Nehru. She was Jiddu Krishnamurti’s teacher.
This proposal totally violates the freedom of many women who may be poor. Yet they may be orthodox Roman Catholics and birth control would be an anathema to them. Women’s freedom to control their own bodies requires that they have the right be decide whether to use birth control or not. This abuse of women’s freedom however is not unexpected from KKK members whose program advocates the denial of religious freedom and any rights to Blacks.
Despite the obvious benefits of family planning, there are a number of religious forces which see abortion and contraception as the same immoral act—the terminating of a life or potential life. This view is held by most clerics who are Orthodox Jews, Fundamentalist Protestants, Roman Catholics, and fundamentalist Muslims. The members of those religions however, do not always agree with their clergy. For example, the majority of American Catholics practice Birth Control as do many modern Muslims, most protestants and most Jews.
Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for children's rights. She has been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life. She is founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such at Martin Luther King Jr. and Hillary Clinton.
