he American Birth Control League (ABCL, Grantee 1936–1939) was founded in 1921 in New York City to advocate for the legalization of contraception and promote women’s reproductive rights, at a time when birth control was illegal in much of the country. The Assistance Fund’s 1936 grant to ABCL was modest in size, but significant for what it set in motion. In 1939, ABCL merged with the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau to form the Birth Control Federation of America, which in 1942 became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America — an organization the fund consistently supported through the 1960s. This commitment to reproductive rights continued with grants to legal organizations challenging abortion restrictions in court in the 1970s, and reemerged in 2024, when grantees Instituto in Arizona and Forward Montana Foundation in Montana played key roles in the coalitions that won constitutional amendments enshrining abortion rights in their state constitutions.

Media:

• PBS News: How this New York clinic helped transform reproductive care