Decisions Without Hierarchy

SIX

The Women’s Health Collective

The Women’s Health Collective was formed in 1972 in response to a need, voiced by a coalition of community members, for a facility to provide abortion and other health care services to women. In the spring of 1972, state law that had outlawed abortion was struck down by the state’s supreme court. Shortly thereafter, in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court made abortion legal in Roe v. Wade.

Various groups in this small New England city, including doctors, other health advocates, and feminist organizations, as well as concerned individuals, both male and female, held a meeting and elected a board of directors and working committees to help establish a clinic. During the summer of 1972, necessary resources in the form ...