Stamm, Karen

Karen Stamm was an activist and lawyer who participated in several women’s reproductive rights campaigns and organizations during the 1970s and 1980s, including the National Women’s Health Network (NWHN) and the Reproductive Rights National Network (R2N2). Stamm helped found and chaired committees for the Committee to End Sterilization Abuse (CESA), and its successor, the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA). She received her law degree from Rutgers Law School in 1985 and practiced landlord and tenant law and estate planning. Through NWHN, R2N2, CESA, CARASA, and other organizations, Stamm advocated for reproductive rights and affordable healthcare for all women, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. She worked to end sterilization abuse as population control and for greater transparency of sterilization practices among hospitals and municipal healthcare agencies.