Our History
Legend has it that Planned Parenthood of Vermont (which later became PPNNE) was founded in Burlington in 1965 at the kitchen table of the late Priscilla Welsh. Back then, abortion was illegal, birth control use was prohibited in some states (even for married couples), and a woman still needed to get her husband's permission before having her tubes tied.
Here's some more info about the way it was in 1965...
FOR THE FIRST TIME YOU COULD:
• Watch I Dream of Jeannie, Lost in Space, and Hogan’s Heroes on TV.
• Get free health care through the Medicaid health insurance program.
• Buy a can of soda from a vending machine.
• Play sports on Astroturf.
• Carry your baby in a Snugli.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH & RIGHTS MILESTONES
• World population reaches 3.345 billion.
• The Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court decision strikes down state laws that prohibit giving married people information, instruction, or medical advice on contraception. The court’s recognition of individuals’ right to privacy in deciding when and whether to have a child becomes the basis for later reproductive rights decisions.
• More than 5 million American women use the birth control pill, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1960.
• According to the National Center for Health Statistics at least 235 women die from illegal abortions. (Total mortality from illegal abortions is undoubtedly higher.)
OTHER 1965 HEADLINES
• Generation X officially begins.
• Actress Sarah Jessica Parker, author J.K. Rowling, and country music star Shania Twain are born.
• Sir Winston Churchill, poet T.S. Eliot, and black leader Malcolm X die.
• UNICEF is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• The Beatles dominate the charts with hits that include “Yesterday” and “Help!”
• Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov performs the first space walk.
• After two unsuccessful attempts, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists march from Selma, AL, to the steps of the Alabama Capitol.
• President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, putting an end to literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices.
• The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam. By the end of the year, 190,000 American soldiers are in Vietnam.
• 26.2 million women participate in the U.S. labor force.
• Patricia R. Harris is appointed ambassador to Luxembourg, making her the first black female ambassador.
We've come a long way since 1965, but we still have a long way to go.
Be an advocate and a patient. Be one of us — because health care should be for all of us.
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