Alice Jenkins or Alice Brook; born Alice Glyde (4 December 1886 – 25 December 1967) was a British abortion-rights campaigner. She co-founded the

Abortion Law Reform Association Badges from the 1970s campaigning to keep and expand the achievements of the ALRA Abortion Rights is an advocacy organisation that promotes access to abortion in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the Abortion Law Refor ...

which reformed UK abortion law. Her book "Law For The Rich" proved pivotal in the creation of the UK's

1967 Abortion Act The Abortion Act 1967 (c. 87) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that legalised abortion in Great Britain on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulated the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the N ...

which made abortion accessible in mainland Britain eight days before she died.

Biography

Jenkins was born, Alice Glyde, in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within ...

in 1886. Her mother, Charlotte Glyde, had six children and they all became involved in politics. Her mother was a servant. In 1907 she started a partnership with William James Jenkins, they never married, but they had three children.Brooke, Stephan. (2006-05-25)
Jenkins [née Glyde
Alice Brook (1886–1967), abortion campaigner">ée Glyde">Jenkins [née Glyde
Alice Brook (1886–1967), abortion campaigner ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Retrieved 22 Dec. 2017. On 17 February 1936, Jenkins along with Janet Chance and Stella Browne began the

(ALRA). At the end of their first year they had 35 new members, and by 1939 they had almost 400. The membership were gathered from the working class using labour groups and women’s branches of the co-operative movement. These women wanted the privileges that “moneyed classes had enjoyed for years.” The ALRA was very active between 1936 and 1939 sending speakers around the country to talk about Labour and Equal Citizenship and attempted to have letters and articles published in newspapers. They were in the frame when a member of the ALRA’s Medico-Legal Committee received the case of a fourteen-year-old girl who had been raped, and she received a termination of this pregnancy from Dr.

Joan Malleson Joan Graeme Malleson (née Billson; 4 June 1899 – 14 May 1956) was an English physician, specialist in contraception and prominent advocate of the legalisation of abortion. Life Billson was born at Ulverscroft, Leicestershire. She was edu ...

, a progenitor of the ALRA. Jenkins wrote an important book titled ''Law For the Rich'' which was published in 1960. He book drew attention to the double standards that faced women with unwanted pregnancies. Abortion was illegal so many women had to give birth to unplanned children, however rich women could persuade their private doctors that their mental health was at risk. The doctors were then able to carry out an abortion that was denied to most women in Britain. Jenkins illustrated her arguments with anecdotes and poor women and their inability to control their fertility. The ALRA's major victory was to gain the support of the liberal politician

David Steel David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood (born 31 March 1938) is a retired Scottish politician. Elected as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (UK Parliament constituency), Roxb ...

. He was a liberal M.P. who had been lucky enough to win a third chance of placing a

private members bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

through the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. He rejected a call to amend the rights of plumbers and homosexuals and decided to reform the laws of abortion. He cites Alice Jenkin's argument in her book "Law For The Rich" as being pivotal in his decision. Steele put forward a private members bill that was backed by the government and it resulted in the

Death and legacy

Jenkins died on Christmas Day 1967.Stephen Brooke, ‘Jenkins , Alice Brook (1886–1967)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2006; online edn, May 200
accessed 24 Oct 2017
/ref> She was the only surviving member of the original ALRA executive and she did see the act pass into UK law eight days before she died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Alice 1886 births 1967 deaths British abortion-rights activists People from Ilkley