Pilpel, Harriet F. (Harriet Fleischl), 1911-1991

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>Harriet Fleischl Pilpel (December 2, 1911 – April 23, 1991) was an American attorney and women's rights activist. She wrote and lectured extensively regarding the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and reproductive freedom. Pilpel served as general counsel for both the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. During her career, she participated in 27 cases that came before the United States Supreme Court. Pilpel was involved in the birth control movement and the pro-choice movement. She helped to establish the legal rights of minors to abortion and contraception.

Harriet Fleischl was born on December 2, 1911 to Julius and Ethel (née Loewy) Fleischl in the Bronx. She had two younger sisters, Juliette and Ruth.

She graduated from Vassar College in 1932. In 1933 she received her master's degree in public law and international law from the Columbia University. On June 15, 1933, she married social service executive Robert C. Pilpel. She received her J.D. in 1936 from Columbia Law School, where she graduated second in her class. She was hired by law firm Greenbaum, Wolf & Ernst following her graduation.

During her career, Pilpel played a role in 27 cases that were heard by the Supreme Court of the United States. Her scholarly work was often cited by the Court and in legislative debate. Law professor Sylvia A. Law writes that Pilpel "was a brilliant legal tactician with a deep knowledge of the nuance of doctrine, but she was also acutely attuned to political opinion, organizational politics, the press, religious feeling, and the broad cultural forces that shape constitutional principles."

Pilpel was a protégé of Morris Ernst, who co-founded the ACLU. Through her work with Greenbaum, Wolf & Ernst, Pilpel was involved with the birth control movement, taking cases such as State v. Nelson (1940) and Tileston v. Ullman (1943). She supported the struggles to overturn birth control laws at the state level, working alongside movement activist Margaret Sanger.

The early reproductive rights movement challenged anti-obscenity Comstock laws. Pilpel was one of three attorneys who represented the Kinsey Institute in a lawsuit against the United States Customs Service, after an Indianapolis customs collector deemed sex-related literature "grossly obscene" and began impounding the materials in 1950. Seven years later, in 1957, she won the case before the Federal District Court. Pilpel was also versed in matrimonial law and co-authored the 1952 book entitled Your Marriage and the Law with Theodora Zavin. She also represented publishers and writers in cases involving copyright law. Her clients included Betty Friedan, Mel Brooks, Billy Graham, Edna Ferber, Svetlana Alliluyeva, Jerome Kern, and Erich Maria Remarque. In 1965 she represented pediatrician Benjamin Spock in a case determining whether advertisements placed in The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care violated Dr. Spock's free speech rights.

Pilpel was involved with the pro-choice movement. In 1961, she argued on behalf of Planned Parenthood in Poe v. Ullman, asking the Supreme Court to reverse a Connecticut law criminalizing birth control. She wrote Planned Parenthood's amicus curiae brief for that case as well as that for 1965's Griswold v. Connecticut. Pilpel was influenced by ideas that the right to privacy upheld in Griswold could be extended to a woman's right to abortion. She put abortion on the agenda of the ACLU Biennial Conference in 1964, though the board did not take up the issue until 1967. Alongside Aryeh Neier, Pilpel helped organize the campaign against New York's anti-abortion law. She authored Planned Parenthood's amicus brief for Roe v. Wade and strategized with attorneys Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, organizing moot court practices prior to arguments in the case. Following the passage of Roe in 1973, she mentored lawyers who tried to prevent the exclusion of abortions from Medicaid.

Pilpel helped to establish minors' rights to abortion and contraception. She presented a paper on the legal rights of minors to the International Council of Women in 1973. She argued in 1977's Carey v. Population Services International on behalf of a minor's right to acquire contraceptives without parental consent.

During the 1960s, Pilpel served on the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Beginning in 1965, Pilpel was an advisor to the United States Women's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor. She was chair of the Law Panel International of Planned Parenthood Federation from 1970 to 1978. From 1979 to 1986, she served as general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She served on the boards of the Guttmacher Institute, the ACLU, and NARAL. She was also co-chair of the National Coalition Against Censorship. In the 1950s and 1960s Pilpel also wrote a monthly column for Publishers Weekly entitled "But Can You Do That?" She appeared frequently on William F. Buckley Jr.'s television show Firing Line.

In 1982, she joined the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges. That year, she donated her research files to Smith College's Sophia Smith Collection.

Pilpel was widowed in 1987 and married New York Medical College administrator Irvin B. Schwartz on March 13, 1989. She died of a heart attack on April 23, 1991 in Manhattan. She was 79. Pilpel was honored with a fellowship in NYU Law's Hays Program, the Harriet Pilpel-Planned Parenthood Fellowship.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Pilpel, Harriet F. Papers, 1913-1981 (bulk 1966-1981). Smith College, Neilson Library
referencedIn Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts Records MS 359., 1859-2002, 1916-1960 Sophia Smith Collection
referencedIn Hart, Henry Melvin, 1904-1969. Papers, 1927-1969 Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Eastman, Max Forrester, 1883-1969. Eastman mss. 1892-1968 Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
referencedIn Buttenwieser, Helen L. Papers, 1909-1990 (inclusive), 1968-1990 (bulk). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Dennett, Mary Ware, 1872-1947. Papers: Series IV, 1910-1944 (inclusive) [microform]. Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Harriet F. Pilpel Papers MS 311., 1913-1981 Sophia Smith Collection
referencedIn George Vernon Denny Papers, 1930-1959, (bulk 1950-1959) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Papers, 1911-1999 Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Leventhal, Harold, 1915-1979. Papers, 1932-1980 (bulk 1964-1979). Library of Congress
referencedIn Papers, 1953-1990 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Family Planning Oral History Project. Records, 1909-1984 (inclusive), 1973-1977 (bulk). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Papers, 1904-1971 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Records of the Agency for International Development. 1948 - 2003. Moving Images Relating to International Development Programs and Activities. 1979 - 1991. A question of justice National Archives at College Park
referencedIn Sheldon Glueck papers Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Jordan, June, 1936-2002. Videotape collection of June Jordan [videorecording]. Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Papers of Mary Ware Dennett Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Calderone, Mary Steichen, 1904-1998. Papers, 1904-1983 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Pilpel, Harriet F. Papers, 1967-1980 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Additional papers of Betty Friedan, 1941-2006 (inclusive), 1980-2000 (bulk) Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Goldman, Eric Frederick, 1915-1989. Papers, 1886-1988 (bulk 1940-1970). Library of Congress
creatorOf Papers, 1967-1980 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Interviews, 1973-1977 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Pilpel, Harriet F. Correspondence with Marian Anderson, 1955. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Papers, 1795, 1837-1992 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Phyllis Chesler Papers, 1968-1990 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
referencedIn Eric Frederick Goldman Papers, 1886-1988, (bulk 1940-1970) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Papers, 1909, 1940, 1968-90 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Papers of the Rombauer-Becker family, 1795-1992 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Harold Leventhal Papers, 1932-1980, (bulk 1964-1979) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Ernst, Morris Leopold, 1888-1976. Papers, 1933-1937 ((inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn The Nation, records, 1879-1974 (inclusive), 1920-1955 (bulk). Houghton Library
referencedIn Andreĭ Sakharov papers, 1852-2002 (inclusive), 1960-1990 (bulk). Houghton Library
referencedIn Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910-1952. Margaret Wise Brown Papers, 1938-1960. Hollins University, Wyndham Robertson Library
referencedIn Papers of Martha May Eliot, 1898-1975 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Pilpel, Harriet F. Oral history interview, 1972-1975 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Florence Rose Papers MS 134., 1832 - 1970, 1920-1969 Sophia Smith Collection
referencedIn Papers, 1933-1937 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts records, 1859-2002 (ongoing) (bulk 1916-1960). Smith College, Neilson Library
referencedIn Kushner, Rose. Papers, 1953-1990 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Bar Association. corporateBody
associatedWith American Civil Liberties Union corporateBody
associatedWith American Jewish Congress. corporateBody
associatedWith American Law Institute corporateBody
associatedWith Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910-1952. person
associatedWith Buttenwieser, Helen Lehman, 1905-1989 person
associatedWith Calderone, Mary Steichen, 1904-1998 person
associatedWith Chesler, Phyllis person
associatedWith Dennett, Mary Ware, 1872-1947 person
correspondedWith Denny, George Vernon, 1899-1959. person
associatedWith Eastman, Max, 1883-1969 person
associatedWith Edelin, Kenneth, 1939- person
associatedWith Eliot, Martha M. (Martha May), 1891-1978 person
associatedWith Ernst, Morris L. (Morris Leopold), 1888-1976 person
associatedWith Family Planning Oral History Project corporateBody
associatedWith Friedan, Betty, 1921-2006 person
associatedWith Glueck, Sheldon, 1896- person
correspondedWith Goldman, Eric Frederick, 1915-1989. person
associatedWith Hart, Henry Melvin. person
correspondedWith Hiss, Alger, 1904-1996 person
associatedWith International Planned Parenthood Federation. corporateBody
associatedWith Jordan, June, 1936-2002. person
associatedWith Kushner, Rose, 1929-1990 person
correspondedWith Leventhal, Harold, 1915-1979. person
associatedWith National Abortion Rights Action League corporateBody
associatedWith Nation (New York, N.Y. : 1865). corporateBody
associatedWith Piel, Eleanor Jackson, person
associatedWith Planned Parenthood Federation of America corporateBody
associatedWith Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts person
associatedWith Planned Parenthood-World Population (U.S.) corporateBody
associatedWith Roe, Jane, 1947- person
associatedWith ROMBAUER-BECKER FAMILY person
associatedWith Rombauer family. family
associatedWith Rose, Florence, 1903-1969 person
correspondedWith Sakharov, Andreĭ, 1921-1989 person
associatedWith Tietze, Christopher, 1908- person
associatedWith Wade, Henry, 1914-2001 person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Manhattan NY US
Bronx NY US
Subject
Abortion
Abortion
Abortion
Abortion
Birth control
Birth control
Birth control
Birth control
Birth control
Civil rights
Copyright
Domestic relations
Lawyers
Minors
Minors
Population policy
Population policy
Reproductive health
Reproductive health
Sterilization (Birth control)
Sterilization (Birth control)
Voyages and travels
Women
Women lawyers
Women's rights
Occupation
Attorney
Feminists
Lawyers
Activity

Person

Birth 1911-12-02

Death 1991-04-23

Female

English

English

Information

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