Judith Rooks oral history interview [sound recording], 2004 April 26.

ArchivalResource

Judith Rooks oral history interview [sound recording], 2004 April 26.

Rooks describes her childhood during WWII. She describes her early professional experiences as a nurse, and says that her interest in reproductive rights began when, teaching at San Jose State University, she assigned students to research the effects of illegal abortions on Mexican agricultural workers. Rooks says that she became politically involved with reproductive rights through the Georgia Citizens for Hospital Abortion. She discusses the abortion laws and their realities in Georgia, especially for poor women, who made up the majority of those seeking illegal abortions, and goes on to describe her experiences in getting support for legislation that would change the existing laws. She describes her committee's failed attempts to get the new legislation passed and its efforts to assist women in getting safe abortions. Rooks went on to work at the CDC where, in her research into the epidemiology of family planning, she began gathering statistics on legal and illegal abortions. She describes in detail the work that went in to the Doe v Bolton case, and the people involved, including Margie Pitts Hames who argued the case in the Supreme Court. Rooks talks about her book, Midwifery and Childbirth in America, and goes on to discuss the history of midwifery in the United States. She talks about her move to the Pacific Northwest with her second husband, and about the work she has undertaken since then, both nationally and internationally.

3 sound cassettes : analog.3 sound discs : digital ; 4 3/4 in.transcript 79 leaves ; 28 cm.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7266776

Georgia State University

Related Entities

There are 3 Entities related to this resource.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68s9x7z (corporateBody)

Rooks, Judith

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6449rrt (person)

Judith Rooks was born in Spokane, Washington in 1941. Her father was a surgeon in the army reserves during WWII, and her mother was a nurse. Rooks believed that aside from teaching, nursing was the only occupation that a woman could pursue, and so she enrolled at the University of Washington where she received a B.S. in nursing in 1963. She married after graduation and then moved to Washington, D.C. where, in 1964, she began working as a nurse at the clinical center (part of the National Institu...

Paulk, Janet, 1932-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jt1jgb (person)

Janet Paulk's loyalty to feminism and women's rights is exemplified through her community involvement. She is a former treasurer and executive committee member of ERA GA., Inc. as well as a member of other women-centered political and social organizations. Retired from Emory University, Paulk currently resides in Decatur, Georgia, is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, and since 1997, is a volunteer interviewer for the Georgia Women's Movement Oral History Project for...