Eleanor Smeal

July 30, 2012

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On this date in 1939, Eleanor Smeal was born in Ohio. She graduated from Duke University and earned her M.A. from the University of Florida. She was president of the National Organization for Women (1975-1982; 1985-1987), working to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. She helped to pass the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978), Violence Against Women Act (1998) and the Civil Rights Act (1991), along with other important legislation. In 1987, Smeal co-founded the Feminist Majority Fund and Foundation and became its president. Smeal has been influential in fighting for women’s rights: She organized the first national abortion rights march in Washington, D.C. (1986), created the National Clinic Access Project (1989), which ensures that women have access to abortion, and helped found the Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan (1997). The World Almanac named her the fourth most influential woman in the U.S. in 1983. She is the author of How and Why Women Will Elect the Next President (1984), and co-produced the videos “Abortion for Survival” (1989) and “Abortion Denied: Shattering Women’s Lives” (1990). She has two children: Tod and Lori.

Smeal was raised Roman Catholic, but left the Catholic Church because she disagreed with its opposition to abortion and birth control. Smeal won the 1994 Freethought Heroine Award from FFRF and spoke at FFRF’s 1994 annual convention in Madison, Wis. In a statement on Feb. 24, 1997, Smeal said: “Extremists are putting their religious beliefs above the U.S. Constitution. Or they are using religion as a cover not only to threaten the lives of those who believe in reproductive choice and choice in lifestyles, but democracy itself.”

“Dogma is extremely harsh on women.” 

— Eleanor Smeal, Freethought Radio, Jan. 27, 2007

Compiled by Sabrina Gaylor (FFRF)