Marie Stopes

Marie Stopes

Marie Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer in the field of birth control. She was the wife of Humphrey Verdon Roe, with whom she founded the first birth control clinic in Britain. Stopes edited the newsletter Birth Control News which gave explicit practical advice. Her sex manual Married Love, which she wrote while legally a virgin, was controversial and influential, while her book, Wise Parenthood, was written before she'd become a parent. She was never in favour of abortion, arguing that prevention of conception was sufficient.