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Press Release
Reproductive Freedom for All Honors the Life and Legacy of Gloria Steinem
Washington, DC — Gloria Steinem, the writer, organizer, and leader who helped build the modern reproductive freedom movement, died on Wednesday in New York City at the age of 92. Across six decades, Steinem changed the way Americans talk about abortion and moved women’s rights into the center of American politics. Steinem worked closely with NARAL leaders throughout her life of advocacy.
Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Gloria Steinem was a fearless champion for reproductive freedom. Years before Roe, when abortion was largely illegal and very stigmatized, Gloria talked openly about her own abortion. She spent the next six decades making it possible for other women to advocate for reproductive freedom without shame. We will honor her the way she would want us to: by never giving up.”
After the death of Rosie Jimenez in 1977—the first person known to have died from lack of access to abortion after the Hyde Amendment denied Medicaid coverage—Steinem and other movement leaders came together to confront the deadly consequences of denying care to people who could not afford it. This September, the Hyde Amendment turns 50—five decades of denying care and causing preventable harm.
In 1979, Steinem co-founded Voters for Choice, one of the first political action committees in the country dedicated to electing candidates who defend access to abortion.
Gloria Steinem’s legacy will be carried on by the generations of activists she mentored, who now lead the movement she helped ignite.
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.