A heroine lives among us: abortion rights activist and political cartoonist Pat Maginnis

In 1959, Patricia Maginnis began handing out information on San Francisco street corners about obtaining affordable illegal abortions. Through her gesture, Ms. Maginnis became the first abortion rights activist in history. In 1961, she formed the Society for Humane Abortion that called for the repeal of all laws criminalizing abortion in California. She also developed a do-it-yourself abortion method that many women on the West Coast used to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Still active after all these years, Pat participates in the weekly Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace anti-war walks every Sunday, and continues to publish witty and informative cartoons about the ways of the world. [LMNOP starts at the pergola at the northeast end of Lake Merritt at 3PM every Sunday].