Mary Halton

Mary Gertrude Halton (1878–1948)[1][2] was an American pathologist, gynecologist, obstetrician, women's health activist, and suffragist.[3] She fought to publish research on early intrauterine device (IUD) technology, in order to further the legalization of birth control in the United States. She was the first women appointed to the Harvard Medical School faculty.[4]

Mary Halton
Born
Mary Gertrude Halton

1878
San Francisco, California, US
Died25 January 1948
New York City, New York, US
EducationStanford University
Medical career
Professionmedical doctor
FieldGynecology

Early life and education

Mary G. Halton was born in 1878 in San Francisco, California, she was the daughter of Mary Gunn Halton and Dr. Richard J. Halton.[3] Her father was born in Dublin, Ireland.[3] She attended the University of California, and later Stanford University's Cooper Medical College, graduating on June 5, 1900, with her medical degree.[1][3][5]

Career

After graduation she worked as a pathologist at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, and Southern Pacific Hospital in San Francisco.[3] By 1906, she had moved to New York City and started her own medical practice.[3] In New York City, Halton joined the suffragist movement and became a feminist leader.[3]

Starting in 1910, Halton worked as the Medical School Inspector for the New York City Department of Health.[6] She also worked at the Gouverneur Hospital as a surgeon in the outpatient maternity ward.[7] Halton became famous in 1923, when she was able to use an X-ray machine in order to shrink an enlarged gland on a three-day-old baby, and as a result she saved the baby's life.[3]

In 1921, Halton shared with her friend Margaret Sanger, a birth control activist, Halton's two-year research with 700 women implanted with an intrauterine coil made of either silver or gold which had very few side effects.[8] A similar process was being done in Germany at the time.[8] Sanger restrained due to public criticism and warned against the IUD coils in the book, Happiness in Marriage (1926).[8] Halton continued her work and started research using a silk suture, and the publication of her findings were rejected for publication in 1947 by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology for being controversial.[8][9] The research article was published with warning one year later, in 1948 in the Human Fertility journal by Margaret Sanger.[9] By 1963, the medical community began to accept the IUD and related procedures.[8][9]

Halton lectured publicly on domestic life, as well as published various newspaper articles, she was opposed to the Volstead Act, and was a member of the Anti-Noise Society of New York City.[3] By 1913, Halton served as the leader of the 29th District Assembly's Woman Suffrage Party.[10] In 1915, Halton wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times, in support of the suffragist movement.[11] She founded the Halton Endowment for Girls, Inc, which helped place low income "working girls" into beds in New York City for when they couldn't afford medical treatment.[3]

Halton was the president of the Equal Rights For Babies, Inc. where she led a movement to insure the New York State Legislature pass a 1935 bill for birth certificates to not disclose parents names.[3] Prior to the bill, only the father's name was omitted, which caused stigma for a child born out of wedlock as they grew older.[12][3] By the time of her death, fourteen states had changed their laws around birth certificates and parents names, in order to protect babies born out of wedlock.[12]

Death

Halton died after a long illness on January 25, 1948, at Doctor's Hospital in Staten Island in New York City, she was 69 years old.[3] After her death, the Equal Rights For Babies fund was diverted into the Dr. Mary Halton Student Loan Fund at NYU–Bellevue Medical Center to help more women study medicine.[12]

References
  1. Occidental Medical Times. Vol. 15. 1901. p. 67.
  2. The Stanford Alumnus: Official Magazine of the Stanford Alumni Association. Vol. 49. 1948. Mary Gertrude Halton , M.D. ' 00, died January 25
  3. "Dr. Mary Halton, Pathologist, Dies; Physician Since 1900 Helped Wayward Girls and Was ' an Ardent Suffragist". Times Machine, The New York Times. January 27, 1948. p. 25. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  4. Griffith, R. Marie (2017-12-12). Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics. Basic Books. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-465-09476-9.
  5. "Cooper College Sends Forth A Large Class". California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC). San Francisco Call. 6 June 1900. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  6. "Invaded Central Park; School Medical Inspector Gives Her Views of Mr. Frick's Gift". Times Machine, The New York Times. June 18, 1912. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  7. "Dr. Mary Halton". Newspapers.com. The Evening Sun. 28 January 1948. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  8. Chesler, Ellen (2007-10-16). Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America. Simon and Schuster. p. 272. ISBN 978-1-4165-5369-4.
  9. Kirejczyk, Marta (2000). Bodies of Technology: Women's Involvement with Reproductive Medicine. Ohio State University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-8142-0846-5.
  10. "SUFFRAGISTS GO CALLING ON SOCIETY; Welcomed by Butler, Who Say "Not in" and "Not for Suffrage" in Same Breath". Times Machine, The New York Times. January 7, 1913. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  11. "Women's Experience". Times Machine, The New York Times. February 21, 1915. p. 86. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  12. "A Women's New York, Baby Rights Benefactor Aids Women Med Students". Newspapers.com. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 12 August 1949. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
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