50th Anniversary Story

By: David L. Cohen, U.S. Ambassador to Canada (retired)

My involvement with WOMEN’S WAY goes back many decades to when I was Chief of Staff for then-Mayor Ed Rendell.

Ed assumed office as Mayor of Philadelphia in January 1992. To set the stage, although the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark Roe v. Wade decision had struck down restrictive abortion laws in 1973, health care clinics faced a series of blockades from those trying to prevent women from accessing abortion and family planning services. Large-scale blockades in the 1980s gave way to more targeted blockades, including in Philadelphia, in the early 1990s. One of the WOMEN’S WAY’s founding agencies was the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women, which was a prominent target of those blockades.

Masses of angry protestors were blockading the entrance to the Blackwell clinic in Philadelphia. Women who had scheduled abortions, or even just wanted to access family planning counseling services, could not make it through the intimidating throngs.

This was intolerable to Ed Rendell, a longstanding champion of women’s rights. He and I convened a meeting of key city officials – police, the Human Rights Commission, the Health Department, the Law Department – and the Mayor demanded a plan to open the clinics, especially the Elizabeth Blackwell Clinic.

The key strategy was to use the Philadelphia police to enforce injunctions against blocking access to the clinics. But we knew that the situation was delicate. We didn’t want a riot. So on the declared “day of action,” I decided to go to the clinic myself. I joined other volunteers in walking women seeking Blackwell’s services into the clinic. I wanted to lead by example and impress on the police officers present the importance of providing safe passage to women seeking abortions.

It is a crisis and moment I will always remember. It was my first major exposure to WOMEN’S WAY – and to the courageous and committed women who created the organization – and the movement. Ernesta Ballard. Lynn Yeakel. Carol Tracy. Allyson Schwartz. Women I have been proud to work with on women’s social justice issues ever since.

WOMEN’S WAY has always stood for the rights of women and girls, especially those who most need a voice. I am proud to have been a long-standing supporter of WOMEN’S WAY. Together with my wife, Rhonda, we salute WOMEN’S WAY for the 50 years that it has tirelessly worked for equality. We are a better city – a better community – because of WOMEN’S WAY.

This story is a part of the WOMEN'S WAY 50th Anniversary Storytelling initiative. To learn more and submit your own story, please visit: womensway.org/WW50