[OASIS]Harvard University Library
OASIS: Online Archival Search Information System		http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00781Frames Version
Questions or Comments   Copyright Statement
MC 313

National Abortion Rights Action League. Records, 1968-1976: A Finding Aid

Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

[link]


The collection was processed with a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (#79-4).
Radcliffe College
October 1980

© 1980 Radcliffe College

Descriptive Summary

Call No.: MC 313
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Creator: National Abortion Rights Action League, 1969-
Title: Records, 1968 (1969-1975) 1976
Quantity: 8 cartons, 2 file boxes, 2-1/2 file boxes, electronic records
Abstract: Records of the National Abortion Rights Action League, a national lobbying and membership organization devoted first to obtaining, and later to maintaining, the availability of safe, legal abortion.

Processing Information:

Processed: October 1980
By: Katherine Gray Kraft, Zephorene L. Stickney

Acquisition Information:

Accession number: 77-M189
The records of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) were given to the Schlesinger Library beginning in November 1977.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Open to research except for Fundraising Correspondence and Membership Forms, which are closed until January 1, 2028.

Preferred citation for publication:

National Abortion Rights Action League Records, 1968-1976; item description, dates. MC 313, folder #. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

HISTORY

NARAL is the only national lobbying and membership organization devoted solely to maintaining the availability of safe, legal abortion. Originally called the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, NARAL was established at the First National Conference on Abortion Laws: Modification or Repeal?, held in February 1969 in Chicago. The conference, sponsored by 21 organizations and attended by 350 people, included a planning session for NARAL and the report of NARAL's pre-formation planning committee: Lawrence Lader of New York, Garrett Hardin of California, and Dr. Lonny Myers of Chicago. Those attending the session elected a 12-person Planning Committee: Lawrence Lader (Chairman), Ruth Proskauer Smith (Vice Chairman), Ruth Cusack (Secretary), Beatrice McClintock (Treasurer), Constance Bille Finnerty, Mrs. Marc Hughes Fisher, Betty Friedan, Norval Morris, Stewart Mott, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, Edna Smith, and Percy Sutton. The committee held its first official meeting in New York on February 25, 1969. It hired Lee Gidding as the first Executive Director; she opened NARAL's office in New York City on March 3.
The Planning Committee, meeting regularly between February and September 1969, defined NARAL's purpose and program, drafted by-laws to submit to the membership for approval, prepared a slate to run for the Board of Directors, and directed NARAL's activities. The Committee defined NARAL's purpose as follows:
NARAL, recognizing the basic human right of a woman to limit her own reproduction, is dedicated to the elimination of all laws and practices that would compel any woman to bear a child against her will. To that end, it proposes to initiate and co-ordinate political, social, and legal action of individuals and groups concerned with providing safe abortions by qualified physicians for all women seeking them regardless of economic status.
The original NARAL program had six parts:
The Board of Directors, elected by the membership, officially replaced the Planning Committee at the first Board meeting, held on September 27, 1969. The Board elected Honorary Officers (Dr. Lester Breslow and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm as Presidents, Senator Maurine Neuberger as Vice President), Officers (including New York City Councilwoman Carol Greitzer as President), an Executive Committee (Lawrence Lader, Chairman), and a Nominating Committee. In addition, the Board adopted a very specific program of action (see NARAL News, Winter 1970).
From 1969 till early 1973, NARAL worked with other groups to repeal state abortion laws and to oversee implementation of abortion policies in those few states that had liberalized their laws. On January 22, 1973, in Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, during the first three months of pregnancy, abortion should be a private decision between a woman and her doctor, and that during the second three months state regulation should be permitted only to protect the health of the woman. To reflect the Court's repeal of restrictive abortion laws, NARAL became the National Abortion Rights Action League in late 1973.
The Court decision did not settle the issue of women's right to choose abortion. Anti-abortion groups, funded predominantly by the Roman Catholic Church and some other religious organizations, stepped up their political activities, exerting pressure on hospitals, abortion clinics, state legislatures, and the U.S. Congress to limit, or prohibit, abortions. In response, NARAL began to recruit members and funds more actively, expanded its staff, moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C., to facilitate lobbying, and established a political action committee (NARAL PAC) to solicit funds and work on behalf of political candidates. Since its establishment in 1969, NARAL has sponsored workshops, symposiums, and conferences; initiated legal suits; raised funds; published and distributed educational materials; cooperated with numerous other groups in a variety of projects; and demonstrated, lobbied, and testified on behalf of women's right to legal, safe abortions.
NARAL's newsletters, press releases, mailings to members, and annual meeting minutes are a good source of information on the history, resolutions and policies, and activities of the organization, as well as information about abortion rights activities in the states and overseas. Additional published material about abortion, reproduction and birth control, activities of pro-choice and anti-abortion groups, and related information has been transferred from the NARAL subject files to the book division of the Schlesinger Library.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The records are restricted under an agreement between the Schlesinger Library and NARAL. Publications, minutes of annual meetings, mailings to members, and other material of a public nature are available for research. Access to the remainder of the records is restricted to past and present officers, Board members, and Executive Directors, and to those researchers who have the written permission of the Executive Committee.
The records contain by-laws; minutes of annual meetings; correspondence, mailings, and other material related to annual meetings; minutes, correspondence, and mailings to and from the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee; reports and some correspondence of the Executive Director; some correspondence of the Director of Field Service; minutes, mailings, and correspondence of various committees; some financial and membership records; correspondence files by subject, and by state; and mailings, newsletters, and other publications.
Many sections, most notably financial and membership records, are incomplete for the years covered. Information on the First National Conference on Abortion Laws, which led to the founding of the organization, is also sparse, although some correspondence about it may be found in the state correspondence ("Illinois, 1968 - July 1969"). The following kinds of records have not yet been located: documentation of program planning for the annual meetings; records of founders, officers, and staff; tapes, films, and paper documentation of television and radio ads or of televised panel discussions.
In general, NARAL's filing system has been retained, except that most of the printed reference material, originally filed throughout the collection, has been removed and transferred to the book division of the SL. Since all the major correspondence series contain similar material, it is often necessary to search in several places for a certain record. For example, correspondence with a Board member serving on the Executive Committee while residing in Minnesota may be in Board correspondence, state correspondence (for Minnesota), subject correspondence, or Executive Committee correspondence, or in two or more of these categories.
Because the records are relatively incomplete at this time, they have not been divided into series, nor have the folders been numbered.
NARAL's web site is being captured periodically as part of Harvard University Library's Web Archive Collection service (WAX); searchable archived versions of the web site will be available through this finding aid in 2010.
Additional records are received from NARAL occasionally and added to the processed records as staff time permits. While some addenda are for later periods, some date back to periods the records for which have already been processed. Container lists are available upon request for some addenda; consult Public Services staff. For related videotapes, see Vt-4.

CONTAINER LIST

INVENTORY

Additional catalog entries

National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws
Abortion
Abortion--Law and legislation
Associations
Birth control
Electronic records
Feminism
Legal status, laws, etc.
U.S.--States--Abortion
Web sites

sch00781