Madeleine Simms (''née'' Zimmermann: 6 September 1930 – 3 October 2011) was an Austrian-born British social campaigner and one of the architects of the

Abortion Act 1967 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 ...

Personal life

She was born Madeleine Zimmerman in Vienna to a Jewish family and they moved to London where she was educated at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in west London, England. The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the world's 150 best private schools and among top ...

(at the same time as

Shirley Williams Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby (''née'' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in ...

) and then read

Moral Philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

and English Literature at

Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...

. She married Dennis Simms in 1956, whom she met through the Jewish Graduates Association. They had two children together: Nick (born 1959) and Harriet (born 1965). Simms was a

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

, and wrote a regular column titled "Better 1/2" for ''Humanist News.'' She was also a member of the Rationalist Press Association.

As a campaigner

After the birth of her first child (Nick) in 1959, Simms discovered abortion was illegal in the UK. She joined the Abortion Law Reform Association, becoming press officer and editor of the newsletter, and worked on what would become the

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 ...

with Liberal MP

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 ...

. While this was less radical than she liked, she pragmatically considered it a good start. She was latterly a trustee of various population and birth control trusts, including the Birth Control Trust, the Simon Population Trust and the

Galton Institute The Adelphi Genetics Forum is a non-profit learned society based in the United Kingdom. Its aims are "to promote the public understanding of human heredity and to facilitate informed debate about the ethical issues raised by advances in reproducti ...

. She was also the deputy director of the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care, London. For a period, she was seconded to the Department of Health research management division, writing articles, pamphlets and reports.

Selected bibliography

*''Abortion Law Reformed'' (1971), with Keith Hindell *''Non-medical Abortion Counselling'' (1973) *''Teenage Mothers and Their Partners'' (1991)

References

External links

*"Obituary: Madeleine Simms", by Geoffrey Vevers, ''The Galton Institute Newsletter'', #79, Winter 2012
"Madeleine Simms obituary", by Suzie Hayman
''The Guardian'', 12 October 2011 *"Obituary: Madeleine Simms", ''The Times'', 10 October 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Simms, Madeleine 1930 births 2011 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of Bedford College, London Birth control activists English humanists English atheists British abortion-rights activists Austrian Jews Activists from Vienna English people of Austrian-Jewish descent

Personal life

As a campaigner

See also

Selected bibliography

References

External links