Boston Association for Childbirth Education

The Boston Association for Childbirth Education was incorporated in 1958, although its founders had begun meeting as early as 1953 to discuss how best to reform obstetrical and maternity care and to disseminate information about natural childbirth. Some of the early educators were Justine Kelliher, Abigail Avery, and Sylvia D. Sawin. In seeking to further the acquisition and application of information concerning family-centered maternity care and breastfeeding, BACE sponsored studies, held workshops and classes, published newsletters and other printed material, and collaborated with the International Childbirth Education Association.

In 1953, a group of Boston-area mothers interested in reforming obstetrical and maternity care and in disseminating information about natural childbirth began to meet. In seeking to encourage family-centered maternity care and breastfeeding, Boston Association for Childbirth Education's first initiative was to provide classes for expectant parents which covered anatomy and physiology of pregnancy, labor, and delivery, instruction on breastfeeding, and daily exercises to aid mothers during pregnancy and labor. The classes were small, informal, and usually held in private homes; the first class was held in 1953. BACE also held general meetings with speakers, including doctors and nurses, discussing pregnancy and breast feeding, and child psychologists discussing child development; in addition, movies were shown. BACE also offered a library of books, movies, and pamphlets on childbirth and related issues. As interest in natural childbirth grew, BACE's membership expanded and its organizational structure came to include committees on class study, education, program, and training. The group incorporated as Boston Association for Childbirth Education in 1958. In 1962, the Nursing Mothers' Council was formed. Its purpose was to provide lay counselors who offered advice and counseling on breastfeeding to mothers.

One of the founders of BACE and its first instructor was Justine Kelliher, nurse and natural childbirth educator. Justine Oren (Woollett) Kelliher was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 22, 1920, to Ralph Sidney Woollett and Margaret Elizabeth (Smith) Woollett. She graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Albany, N.Y. in 1938, attended summer courses on typing and shorthand at the Bryant and Stratton Business School (1938), received her B.A. from Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart (1942), an M.A. in biology from Brown University (1943), and an M.N. from Yale School of Nursing (1946), and participated in the Cadet Nurse Program at Yale. She married Giles Clement Kelliher in 1948; they had six children. She was a staff nurse at the Boston Lying-in Hospital (1946-1947) and the Boston Visiting Nurse Association (1947-1948); parent educator at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Boston (1967); staff nurse at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston (1968); Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Mass. (1970-1971); Chetwynde Nursing Home, Newton (1980-1982). Kelliher began coaching mothers in natural childbirth in 1949; she retired as a nurse in 1982.