Dorothea Palmer (Ferguson) (born 1908 [1] died 1992) was a Canadian who played a prominent role in the effort to legalize birth control in Canada.
Palmer was a bookstore owner and part-time employee of the Parents' Information Bureau.[2][3] Funded by A. R. Kaufman, the wealthy owner of the Kaufman Rubber Company in Kitchener, Ontario and prominent eugenics supporter, the Parents' Information Bureau distributed information about family planning and birth control.[4][5]
In September 1936, Palmer was arrested and charged under section 207 of the Criminal Code, which stated that the selling or advertising of contraceptives was illegal.[6] She was arrested for promoting contraception to women in the poor Roman Catholic Ottawa community of Eastview. At the time 1,000 of the 4,000 people living in the area were on social assistance, many with large families.[2] Kaufman welcomed the chance to test Canada's laws in court, and spent the then considerable sum of $25,000 mounting a defence for Palmer in what would later be known as The Eastview Birth Control Trial, which lasted from 1936 to 1937.
The trial attracted both Canada's most prominent advocates for birth control and representatives of the major churches and other birth control opponents. During the trial Palmer was the subject of attacks and abuse by those who opposed her. In one incident a man pulled her into an alley and attempted to rape her, telling her that he'd "show you what it's like without any birth control." Palmer managed to knee him in the groin and escape.
On March 17, 1937, the court acquitted Palmer on the basis that her actions had passed the criminal code's pro bono publico clause: that her actions were done entirely in the interest of the public good. Here was a landmark trial. Even still, although contraception was not fully legalized in Canada until 1969, no other person was ever prosecuted for distributing information about birth control in the country.[6]
Due to the public scrutiny and criticism that accompanied the trial, Palmer spent the majority of her adult life out of the public eye, relocating to another address and going by Ferguson, her married name, rather than Palmer.[7]
See also
- Great Stork Derby - 1926 - 1936
References
- ^ "Dorothea Palmer collection". University of Waterloo: Special Collections.
- ^ a b "Birth Control Charge Dismissed at Eastview on 'Public Good' Clause". Toronto Daily Star. 17 March 1937. pp. 1–2.
{{cite news}}:|format=requires|url=(help) - ^ Dodd, Dianne (November 1983). "The Canadian Birth Control Movement on Trial, 1936-1937". Histoire sociale- Social History. XVI (32): 411–28. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
- ^ Revie, Linda (2006). ""More than just boots! The eugenic and commercial concerns behind A. R. Kaufman's birth controlling activities"". Canadian Bulletin of Medical History. 23 (1): 119–43.
- ^ "A. R. Kaufman: Industrialist was pioneer in fight to establish birth control clinics". The Globe and Mail. 2 February 1979. p. 40.
{{cite news}}:|format=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b Elliot, Wendy. "Dorothea Parker: Brave Disseminator of Birth Control Information". Canadian History: Suite 101.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Hopper, Doris (30 November 1978). "Birth-control pioneer ends 42-year exile". Toronto Star. p. D3.
{{cite news}}:|format=requires|url=(help)
- Beswick, Lorne. "'Birth Control or Red Regime': Toronto, Eugenics and the Eastview Birth Control Trial," MA Thesis: Queen's University, 2011.
- "History marks a page for Dorothea Palmer" Frank Jones. Toronto Star. Nov 12, 1992. pg. C.1
- "Did dirty work for men at trial, pioneer of birth control says" Joan Hollobon. The Globe and Mail. Nov 30, 1978. pg. T.3
- "A. R. Kaufman Industrialist was pioneer in fight to establish birth control clinics" The Globe and Mail. Feb 2, 1979. pg. P.40