Carol Ruth Silver: "Every Child a Wanted Child: Reproductive Health Equity"

RU-486, also known as Mifepristone, is a medication used with Misoprostol for medical abortion during pregnancy. Although it became available in France in 1987, it wasn't until 2000 that it was accessible in the U.S., following strong opposition from anti-abortion groups. Carol Ruth Silver, a former San Francisco Supervisor and advocate for Reproductive Health Equity, founded an organization in 1990 solely dedicated to bringing RU-486 to the United States. This is the story of how that organization developed a detailed plan to make this drug available in California and how this model was also considered in New York and Oregon. Ultimately, it took ten years for the drug to be available in California and across the country, and the fight for medical abortion access continues more than a quarter century after its approval by the FDA.

Carol Ruth Silver was one of the first two white women jailed as a Freedom Rider, an experience that sparked her career in law and politics, fighting for others' rights. After graduating from the University of Chicago in 1960, where she first became involved in civil rights, Silver worked as a UN clerk. Before law school, she traveled South as a Freedom Rider, was arrested in Mississippi, and spent forty days in jail; she later published her diary. She graduated from law school in 1964, interned for African-American attorney Floyd McKissick, and served on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors (1977-1989), working with Harvey Milk. She founded SF’s first Mandarin immersion school in 1982 and traveled to Afghanistan after 2002 to promote education for women and girls. After 50 years of practicing law, she retired in 2005 but continued social justice work as Director of Prisoner Legal Services (2008-2009), inspiring her fight for drug reform.