Lawrence Lader, Champion of Abortion Rights, Is Dead at 86

[im10ashus]

By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Lawrence Lader, a writer who so successfully marshaled his literary and political efforts in support of abortion rights that Betty Friedan, the feminist author, called him the father of the movement, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 86.

The cause was colon cancer, his wife, Joan Summers Lader, said.

Mr. Lader was a major voice in the abortion debate for four decades, becoming a lightning rod for its critics as well as a beacon for its proponents. He wrote influential books and articles on the subject, organized ministers to refer women wanting abortions to doctors as well as referring 2,000 himself, helped found what was long known as the National Abortion Rights Action League and helped win New York State's repeal of abortion restrictions in 1970.

He unsuccessfully sued the Internal Revenue Service to end the Roman Catholic Church's tax exemptions on the ground that its opposition to abortion had veered into the political arena. He successfully challenged some restrictions on the drug RU-486, known as the morning-after pill, and arranged to manufacture a version of it in the United States.

cont'd...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/nyregion/10lader.html

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

1. I wonder where the memorial service is...

I called the Times and NARAL and both had no answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? Erica