Pat was featured in NPR’ s Notable Deaths of 2021.
“[She] advocated for abortion rights years before Roe v. Wade, a position that is mainstream today, but radical during her time.”
Pat Maginnis in NPR’s Notable Deaths of 2021
All posts by Laurie O'Connell
Washington Post obituary
Trailblazer… pioneer… the Washington Post obituary is a respectful celebration that gives a clear view of Pat’s personality and power.
Viva Pat! 
NYT obituary
This comprehensive NYT obit is a detailed review of Pat’s historic career as the United States’ (and probably the world’s) first abortion rights activist — although the claim that she rechanneled her activism and didn’t talk much about abortion after Roe v Wade passed in 1973 is far from accurate.
On the contrary, though she was also an avid political cartoonist and active in the animal rights, environmental, civil rights and social justice movements, Pat remained first and foremost a passionate and vocal advocate of abortion.
She was generous with her time and encouragement, serving as a mentor to many women, including my older daughter (former manager and outreach/education coordinator at Women’s Health Specialists Redding before earning her master’s degree and women’s health APRN at Yale; now serving as Director of Women’s Health at a New Haven clinic) as well as Katrina Cantrell (Executive Director of both Women’s Health Specialists Redding & Chico and Northstate Women’s Health Network), along with countless other feminist activists, including myself.
Though she’s no longer with us, her inspiration lives on. Now, when our rights are in greater peril than ever before, Pat will serve as a role model to all women and our allies as we rise up to carry on her fight for reproductive justice.
Read more here:
Women’s Health Specialists Feminist Women’s Health Centers statement: Bans Off Our Bodies!
#AbortionOnDemandWithoutApology
#BansOffOurBodies
Rest in Power, PAT MAGINNIS
To Pat’s friends, followers and fans: Our dear friend and feminist icon Pat Maginnis has passed away at age 93.
Pat made history as the world’s first abortion rights activist. In 1962, as a student at San Jose State University, she formed the Citizens Committee for Humane Abortion Laws (CCHAL). Moving to San Francisco in 1963, she met and enlisted fellow feminist sheroes Rowena Gurner and Lana Phelan Kahn in the cause, renaming their group The Society for Humane Abortion (SHA) in 1964 .
The trio used a wide range of methods — holding symposia for medical professionals, creating and handing out thousands of leaflets and Pat’s provocative cartoons, and speaking at medical conventions, libraries, and family planning organizations and libraries, as well as providing them with literature, including their own “The Abortion Handbook “and other historic books and pamphlets.
Dubbed The Army of Three, they also spent much of their time teaching self-abortion classes and providing self-abortion kits to women across the country.
As ARAL (Association to Repeal Abortion Laws, the origin of today’s NARAL Pro-Choice America), the trio created and supervised an underground railroad of safe clinics in Mexico and other countries used by approximately 12,000 women. In this radical sub-group, the trio also deliberately performed illegal actions to provoke their arrests, which forced the successful courtroom battles that challenged and then struck down many abortion laws.
With this strategic multifaceted blitz approach, these three women were the primary and most effective pioneers of the abortion rights movement that culminated in the 1973 passage of Roe v Wade.
The most dedicated activist I’ve ever known, Pat was also the most joyful — a rare and vital combination. All of her friends and compatriots treasure the time we spent with her, inspired by her laser-like focus, prodigious energy, and astonishing courage, and enjoying her tremendous wit, warmth, and creativity.
When not out on the streets smashing the patriarchy, Pat enjoyed drawing trenchant political cartoons and writing accompanying limericks. She was also a dedicated environmental, anti-war, social justice, and animal rights activist.
As Pat’s longtime friend and creator/administrator of this site and the Pat Maginnis and the Army of Three Facebook page, I join the historic Women’s Health Specialists clinics, Northstate Women’s Health Network, and other members of the abortion rights movement and the larger feminist community in mourning Pat’s passage and celebrating the life of our mentor and shero.
Pat’s lifelong battle for women’s abortion rights and her fierce commitment to making the world a better place through reproductive justice must serve as our call to arms. Today, when our hard-won reproductive rights are in greater danger than ever before, Pat’s legacy will inspire us to work harder than ever to revitalize the movement.
Love and thanks, dearest Pat. Leading the Army of Three, you made life safer and freer for millions of women — then, now, and in the future — and we will honor your memory by continuing your historic mission.
Happy 91st Birthday, Pat!
Once you’re an icon and you’re over 90, numbers don’t matter, do they?
After a bout in the hospital, Pat’s back home and doing very well, though like the rest of us, she’s alarmed about the proliferation of the “heartbeat” anti-abortion laws recently passed in so many states.
Pat and the Army of Three demanded abortion without limitation, just like any other medical procedure, and she was always concerned that Roe was not strong enough to withstand legal challenges. Nearly 50 years later, her worries are sadly well founded, as we see more and more GOP-led states passing outrageous unconstitutional legislation to challenge Roe in the newly rightward-packed Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, Lili Loofbourow wrote a fantastic history of Pat and the Army of Three for Slate that gives a clear picture of what’s at stake now, at this moment when our abortion rights are in greater danger than ever before. It takes a bunch of angry women joining together to make history. Let’s get inspiration from the article here, stand up, speak out, organize, and fight back for our rights!
Fierce 46th, Roe v. Wade!
JANUARY 22, 2015PAT MAGINNISLEAVE A COMMENT
On this, the 46th anniversary of the historic Roe v Wade decision, reproductive justice for women in the U.S. faces greater threats than ever before. Nearly 50 years ago, Pat and the Army of Three, wary of any legal limit on abortion care, anticipated this battle. Their comprehensive, radical strategies are now essential knowledge for young women today as they rise to take control of their bodies and their lives. In a connected world, our new generation of reproductive rights activists are fierce and well armed for the fight to come.
Four years ago, in commemmoration of this historic anniversary, Pat wrote:
Today, there are massive demonstrations to end abortion as part of women’s normal health care. But throughout the country, women who prize their bodily agency, along with the men who trust them, are taking to the streets to defend our legal rights and end this taboo. Let’s speak out to free women from the stranglehold of religious interference with our bodies.
And tonight, Women’s Health Specialists, Far Northern California’s only independent reproductive rights provider, salute these sheroes of the future and the past as they host their annual celebration of Roe v. Wade, at Armando’s Gallery House, 1350 Butte St. in Redding, CA. 6-8pm. Come join us in sisterhood and solidarity!
Fantastic article on Pat & the Army of Three in Slate!
Lili Loofbourow has written a remarkable piece about Pat that details not only the Army of Three’s history, but the wide-ranging strategy, actions, and sheer rage of the three women responsible for much of the early reproductive rights movement’s monumental success.
First and forever, thanks to Pat for more than half a century of superhuman dedication, inspiration, and leadership. And thanks to Lana Phelan and Rowena Gurner — Rest in Power, sisters.
Thanks to Lili for sharing Pat’s story with such deep understanding.
And thanks in advance to the young women who have inherited this battle—and must win it. We did it once; you can do it again. Here’s how.
Pat’s statement on the 2018 U.S. Midterms
A message and a warning to women and our allies:
Please remember that it is through our precious right to vote that we will keep safe, accessible abortion care legal in the U.S.
Now more than ever, our reproductive rights are gravely threatened. So make sure to fight back and use your precious right to vote tomorrow for all pro-choice, pro-social justice, pro-LGBTQ, and pro-environment progressive candidates and legislation. Only through the vote and activism can we ensure we won’t be forced back into the dark ages and redo the enormous amount of hard work it took for women to achieve full reproductive rights in this country.
At this moment in history, we can stumble backward or march forward. Let’s march forward—to the polls and in the streets, to secure a brighter future for women!
—Pat Maginnis
November 5, 2018
Happy 90th Birthday, Pat!
As Pat Maginnis enters her ninth decade in an era that threatens our hard-won bodily autonomy, it’s a good time to think about the past and the future. With a lifetime of historic work on behalf of women’s reproductive freedom, Pat’s still active in the Bay Area progressive community, appreciates being chosen as a 2018 National Women’s History Project Honoree, and is optimistic about the feminist resistance.
Happy birthday, Pat, and thanks for everything. Keep fighting, sisters and brothers! Our future is in our hands.
Pat is a 2018 National Women’s History Project Honoree!
Wonderful news! Pat has been chosen as a 2018 National Women’s History Project Honoree!
The theme is “NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.”
From the NWHP website: The 2018 National Women’s History theme presents the opportunity to honor women who have shaped America’s history and its future through their tireless commitment to ending discrimination against women and girls.
From spearheading legislation against segregation to leading the reproductive justice movement, our 2018 honorees are dismantling the structural, cultural, and legal forms of discrimination that for too long have plagued American women.
Congratulations, Pat!