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Did you endure any personal vituperation as a result of it?
I don't recall that I did.
My interest in this went on through '41 and '42, and in '41 Anna Rosenberg introduced me to Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt, and Mrs. Roosevelt was also interested and had given me a contribution although she didn't know me when she gave it to me--it was before I was married--for Planned Parenthood. So I had the temerity to ask her if she would make an appointment for me with the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service.
Who was he at that point?
It was Dr. Parran. He sent me to Warren Draper, who was his assistant at the time. This was in October, '41. And I asked him about the possibility of the U.S. Public Health Service making child spacing part of their regular health programs throughout the country. He, after many anecdotes, said they could not initiate or promote Planned Parenthood programs, but if states would ask for funds for such a program on their own initiative, the United States Public Health Service would give favorable consideration to their request for funds.
Is that not the same policy which we now pursue as far as other nations are concerned?
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