MARIE STOPES
MARIE STOPES
1880-1958
Birth control advocate, women’s rights, writer
Marie Stopes was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and brought up in England. Her mother was a women’s right campaigner and her father died in 1902 which left her family with no money.
She married Reginald Ruggles Gates in 1911, the marriage failed as he was against her support for the suffragettes and they had financially struggled. She gained a divorce after stating she had never had sex with her husband, Gates disagreed and said that Stopes was ‘super-sexed’. She married Humphrey Verdone Roe in 1918 and their son Harry was born in 1924.
She was the first woman to join the Science Faculty at Manchester University in 1904. A botanist and palaeontologist by training. She spent 18 months from 1907-1908 on a scientific mission in Japan exploring fossil plans and lectured at Tokyo University.
In 1916 she was determinted to help women become better informed on birth control and sex education. She believed contraception would improve marriages.
She wrote her first book, Married Love (1918), the book was controversial and was banned in the US due to its content. The book on release was an instant success which made Stopes a well-known public figure.
In 1921 she co-founded a birth-control clinic in London with her husband. One doctor accused her of a ‘monstrous crime’ in giving the public information about contraception. Her clinic offered treatment as well as researched contraception.
Stopes believed in eugenics, she believed particular people, including those who were disabled or ill, shouldn’t have children and should be sterilized. She disinherited her son when he married a partially sighted daughter, Mary. When she found out her son was to be married, she attempted to sabotage their relationship. She tried to get Humphrey’s support over the issue and said she was concerned that their children would inherit Mary’s myopia.
Stopes publicly opposed abortion, and believed prevention of pregnancy came down to contraception. If she became aware of an abortion provider she would report them to the police. She would accuse those of having an abortion of murdering their unborn child.
Stopes died in 1958, aged 77, from breast cancer in Dorking, Surrey.
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