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The Nation's Pulse
Let Us Now Praise Famous Women
Defending the inalienable right to life with ineffable love.
The noise of the electoral season is no excuse for failing to remark on the passing of a great woman and, more importantly, celebrate her life. Let me make amends.
As reported by Dennis Hevesi in the New York Times’ Obituaries for October 19, “Dr. Mildred Jefferson, a prominent, outspoken opponent of abortion and the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School died Friday in Cambridge, Mass. She was 84.”
Dr. Jefferson, a surgeon, was appalled by the 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion on demand for all nine months of pregnancy, up to the moment of birth. This decision, along with its evil twin, Doe v. Bolton, struck down all state restrictions on the practice, effectively allowing abortions in almost any circumstances including mere convenience.
Jefferson testified before Congress that these decisions “gave my profession almost unlimited license to kill.”
“With the obstetrician and mother becoming the worst enemy of the child and the pediatrician becoming the assassin for the family, the state must be enabled to protect the life of the child, born and unborn,” said the good doctor.
Dr. Jefferson, a native of Texas, was a founder and president (for several terms) of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), a federation of 50 state organizations and more than 3,000 chapters. She also served as director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life [] and was active in Black Americans for Life.
She also found time to practice surgery at Boston University Medical Center and serve as a professor of surgery at the university’s medical school.
By all accounts, including this writer’s own observation, Dr. Jefferson was a charismatic leader. “She was probably the greatest orator of our movement,” asserts Darla St. Martin, co-executive director of the NRLC. “In fact, take away the probably.”
“I am at once a physician, a citizen and a woman, and I am not willing to stand aside and allow this concept of expendable human life to turn this great land of ours into just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the privileged and the planned have the right to live,” said Dr. Jefferson in a 2003 profile in the American Feminist.
Reading Dr. Jefferson’s obituary caused me to recall the many great women I had the privilege of working with in my early days, right out of law school, as the right-to-life movement emerged in my hometown of St. Louis. My wife, mother and aunts were among them. I had the same experience years later in Michigan.
They were usually strong personalities, be they introverted or extroverted, motivated more by a visceral love for children than any formal intellectual appreciation, say, of the realist philosophy of the Declaration of Independence and the inalienable right to life. That came later. They saw an injustice, an affront to the civilized order, and resolved to confront it head-on.
Many put their shoulders to the hard work of counseling and the support of alternative “birthright” services. My aunt Jane Mehan, a former nurse and mother of four, was president of the St. Louis chapter; and my mother spent many hours each week helping young women who were dealing with an untimely pregnancy. The support they gave unwed mothers was material, psychologicial and medical. Most important, they gave them hope.
Others became politically active, many for the first time, which seemed to come naturally to the Irish-Americans among them. These women were willing to put their solid Democratic credentials at risk for the good of the cause. I remember Mary Fran Horgan, a Latin instructor and savvy political mind active with the Pro-Life Committee of the Archdiocese, and Ann O’Donnell, a former nurse and strikingly beautiful woman who was national vice-president for NRLC and a scourge to venal politicians of either party.
Barbara Listing, head of Right to Life of Michigan, a political force in her own right, was scrupulous in supporting anyone, regardless of party affiliation, who stood up for the unborn.
More recently, Marjorie Dannensfelser, a former staffer to West Virginia’s Democratic Congressman Alan Mollohan, started the Susan B. Anthony List, a political action committee with the aim of electing pro-life women of either party to Congress.
They were and are wealthy matrons and working-class women; lawyers and, like Dr. Jefferson, doctors; teachers and homemakers; mothers and daughters and grandmothers; caregivers and politicos. What they had in common was a determined commitment to restoring respect for human life in its most defenseless form.
So let us now praise famous women who understood that to love is to truly live.
About the Author
G. Tracy Mehan, III served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the administrations of both Presidents Bush. He is a consultant in Arlington, Virginia, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (22) | Leave a comment
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drudge ette obama| 11.11.10 @ 6:46AM
Sometimes, more than often, I am reminded how little I know. Thank you for this essay about this amazing and real American woman.
wodiej| 11.11.10 @ 6:54AM
God Bless them all. Thank you for sharing. The liberal media certainly won't.
Stephanie| 11.11.10 @ 7:22AM
Thanks AS for this article. I never knew of this woman. This fighter for the unborn. Thank you.
The Bishop| 11.11.10 @ 7:59AM
May the good doctor be blessedwith a special place with the Giver of life. And thank God for heroines like Dr. Jefferson. Thank you for reminding us.
Bonnie Hanssen| 11.11.10 @ 8:05AM
Thank you so much for bringing the life and words of this woman of character and magnanimity to my attention. As a teacher of young women, I plan on holding up her words and example as an ideal for my students to imitate in their own lives with their own unique gifts and talents.
diskojoe| 11.11.10 @ 9:13AM
It was a nice surprise to see this tribute to Dr. Jefferson. I first heard her as a guest of the late David Brudnoy's radio program & later had the honor to talk w/her at several Thomas More Award Dinners of the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund. She was an great woman doing God's work.
Anastasia Mather| 11.11.10 @ 10:07AM
I just linked to this on my Facebook page as a Woman worthy of emulation. So inspiring, so uplifting.
KyMouse| 11.11.10 @ 10:21AM
Dr. Jefferson was the keynote speaker at the very first annual Kentucky Right to Life banquet in 1974, and the organization has always remained grateful for her wisdom and courage.
Abortion (and the lifestyle choices that so often lead to it) has affected many famous women. Patricia Neal ("Hud," "The Day the Earth Stood Still"), who died in August, had an affair with Gary Cooper. When she became pregnant by him and he refused to divorce his wife, he pressured her into aborting the baby.
Silent-movie star Gloria Swanson wrote, "Even if Sid Grauman built me an Arch of Triumph in California as colossal as the one in Paris, it would always have a tomb under it, the tomb of an unborn baby who had picked Henri and me for parents and who was now dead."
Jane Russell ("Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"), at 82, talked in 1983 about the baby she aborted at age 18: "I had a botched abortion and it was terrible...I had to be taken to hospital. I was so ill I nearly died. I've never known pain like it. People should never, never have an abortion. Don't talk to me about it being a woman's right to choose what she does with her own body. The choice is between life and death." The abortion had left her sterile.
The pro-abortion side tries to get mothers not to speak out about their experiences, but thank God they don't always succeed. They, too, have much to teach us.
Beer for My Horses| 11.11.10 @ 6:14PM
A great article about a really great woman. Her voice will be missed and I hope somebody somewhere can fill the void.
Tom| 11.11.10 @ 6:33PM
I used to work at a hospital in Boston during the 70's where she was in residence. Dr Jefferson was a striking figure who had beautiful long hair that she wore in a long pony tail and usually with some type of cowboy hat. She always dressed very fashionably and stood out not just for her looks but also for her pro-life stance. Her name was mud in Boston because of her Pro-Life work and her testimony against Dr Kenneth Edelin who had been convicted of manslaughter for killing a baby during a botched late term abortion. His conviction was eventually over-turned. They both had offices in the same building and I often wondered if they ever ran into each other in the elevator. I sure Edelin could not look her in the eye because of her simple yet eloquent defense of life. Dr Jefferson always held the moral high ground and it was evident when she spoke on this issue. God Bless and May God have mercy on her soul.
Former Redhead| 11.12.10 @ 9:14AM
Dr. Jefferson was a fighter to the end. Earlier this year she and I (and others) testified at a City Council hearing in Fitchburg, MA against another of Planned Parenthood's so-called heath centers opening in that city. Mildred was eloquent as usual and the otherwise unsympathic (to the pro-life side) councillors were very respectful to this striking, intelligent doctor. I almost got arrested for my contentious contribution to that unjust and stacked meeting. We all loved Dr. Jefferson here in Mass.
Margaret Holloway| 11.12.10 @ 11:25AM
I knew Dr. Jefferson as a dear friend. She was a dedicated professional who was rejected by the medical community in Boston for her stand on abortion. She paid a high price in her professional career for her beliefs. Most people don't know that she was the person who influenced President Ronald Reagan to become a more outspoken President on the issue of abortion. If you recall, he wrote a book on that subject. She worked tirelessly for the rights of the unborn. I believe she was the voice of reason, justice, and truth that God ordained, and sent to America. No one wanted to debate her because she was so intelligent and so quick thinking in her response, never raising her voice, once, against her opponents. Her voice, her demeanor, her behavior was southern bred gentleness, (strength under control) and she was kind and thoughtful to everyone she met. She always let others have their say, but she spoke the truth with authority that is rarely seen and was surely, God given. More than any person I know, she exemplified the life of Christ. She has warned us that if abortion is not dealt with, it will usher in euthanasia, changing our society forever. She would want us to remember that. I pray that a complete biography would be made available for the next generation who will become voices for the unborn and patriots willing to sacrifice as much as she did in her life for the high calling of Christ.
Ed Lundrigan| 11.12.10 @ 11:27AM
Dr. Mildred Jefferson dedicated her life to protect the defenseless members of the Human Family. She sacrificed wealth, fame in her chosen profession, a full family life of her own and her Educational Excellence to pursue an ideal to protect the Right to Life and rebuild a moral structure in law that had been steadily and diabolically diminished by a corrupt movement against innocent born and unborn children. She was a brilliant, inspired orator of her time who was relentless in defense of the neglected and disadvantaged members of HUMAN society. We will miss this dedicated leader and gifted individual for LIFE'S principles.
Jim Smith| 11.12.10 @ 12:16PM
Every word of praise in this article is worthy of Dr. Jefferson. She was an unrelenting leader, sincere, determined, unflappable.
Michael| 11.12.10 @ 1:28PM
Twice Dr. Jefferson was a candidate for the US Senate. Twice she was not able to get the needed number of signatures to get on the ballot. Once the campaign office was broken into and the signed petitions were stolen. If the petitions had been for Kennedy or Kerry, it would have made the network news. Surpise! It didn't!
Martha | 11.12.10 @ 4:31PM
All these comments are true. However she was also a true friend. When My Dad was in the hospital, Dr. Jefferson visited him and demanded better nursing care. Pat J. would bring her to visit us caping ever summer. All my children and there families would try to be the family to host Dr. J. at there campsite for dinner, just so there young children would be exposed to such a beautiful woman made special because she working so close with God. She truly spread so much love and knowledge or God. Thank you Dr. J. for being in our lifes. Farwell! p.s. if you want to read an excellent book on how abortion has came to be such a huge industry and get to be excepte so easily as a good. Pope John Paul "The Lanague of the Culture of Death"
fwb| 11.12.10 @ 6:32PM
Please memorize this:
"For, whenever a question arises between the society at large and any magistrate vested with powers originally delegated by that society, it must be decided by the voice of the society itself: there is not upon earth any other tribunal to resort to."
Sir William Blackstone, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book I, Chp3, pg.205/6
We the People grant power to our magistrates. A simple majority ofWe the People can decide to Just say No! to the judges.
Blackstone is seldom taught in law schools any more because statements such as this undermine the lies the legal profession has foisted upon us. Please learn the quote by heart and every time a judge decides against what society wants, recite the quote. Teach others that We the People are the boss. We the People have the ultimate authority to override judicial decisions whenever we wish.
The judges DO NOT have the authority to control We the People.
somnolence| 11.13.10 @ 5:54PM
Please preserve a special place for this great lady in the Hall Of Humanity.
Pat| 11.14.10 @ 8:50PM
Dr. Jefferson was active in encouraging and mentoring pro-lifers, fighting the evil of abortion until the last days of her life, denying herself many comforts in order to serve others. She was a beloved and fearless General in the cause of Life!
PAT LAUGHLIN| 11.14.10 @ 9:20PM
Dear Dr. Jefferson, We are sure the babies you faught for were there to greet you as you entered into your Father's House. We will miss this brilliant woman of courage who followed her oath "DO NO HARM"! Chicopee Chapter MCFL
Norma Baftery| 11.15.10 @ 9:00PM
My heart aches at the loss. I just want everyone to know about this beautiful person, Dr. Mildred Jefferson. The love that she had for the unborn was merely an exstention of her love for all of us. I will never forget her.
John Donnelly| 11.18.10 @ 9:00PM
Trace- You bring back great memories. Sitting herein Hilton Head on vacation brings me back to some great people in St. Louis, Ann O'Donnell, Mary Fran Horgan (who converted Bond to pro-life) your aunt Jane, (Don is in our prayers,) et al. Nancy Valko, Marcia Buterin, Ann ? (who sat Thanksgiving and Xmas in jail one year because Bob McCulloch didn't like her trespassing crimes!) and Sue Harvath!! Just great memories and a great article. Incidentally, the weather in Hilton Head this past week is a gift from He who must be obeyed!