Dame Margaret June Sparrow (née Muir, born 26 June 1935) is a New Zealand medical doctor,

reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to human reproduction, reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights: Reproductive rights ...

advocate, and author.

Early life, family, and education

Sparrow was born in Inglewood on 26 June 1935 to Daniel James Muir and Jessie Isobel Muir (née McMillan), and was educated at Waitara District High School and New Plymouth Girls' High School. She went on to study at Victoria University College from 1953 to 1955, graduating BSc; the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

from 1957 to 1963, from where she graduated MB ChB; and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where she completed a Diploma in Venereology in 1976. In 1956, she married Peter Charles Methven Sparrow, and the couple went on to have two children. Peter Sparrow died in 1982.

Career

Sparrow started her career in health working at the student health centre at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

in the late 1960s. At the time, the clinic would only allow contraception to be given to married couples, and she had to go against the wishes of the director of the clinic to put up an information display about contraception. While working at the clinic, student demand for contraception led to her introducing the

morning-after pill Emergency contraception (EC) is a birth control measure, used after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. There are different forms of EC. Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), sometimes simply referred to as emergency contraceptives (ECs), ...

and helping students to get abortions. She worked as a medical officer at Student Health until 1981. Between 1977 and 1999 she worked as a visiting venereologist at Wellington Hospital. Sparrow was the president of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand from 1975 to 1980, and again from 1984 until 2011. She is a Director of Istar Ltd, a not-for-profit company that imports the abortion pill

mifepristone Mifepristone, and also known by its developmental code name RU-486, is a drug typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy. This combination is 97% effective during the first 63 days (9 wee ...

from France. The pill was approved for use in 2001, and allowed women to have medical — rather than surgical — abortions for the first time. No other pharmaceutical company was interested in importing the drug.

Views

In 2015, Sparrow stated that New Zealand's abortion law was out of date and should be reformed: She is also critical of the way the current abortion system forces women to claim they need abortions on the grounds of a danger to mental health:

Honours and awards

In the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours, Sparrow was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to medicine and the community, and in 1993 she was awarded the

New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was established by Royal Warrant on 1 July 1993. It was created to commemorate Women's suffrage in New Zealand and to recognize those New Zealand and Commonwealth citizens who had made a significant ...

. In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, she was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to medicine and the community, and in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

she accepted redesignation as a

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government. The

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

clinic in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

is named after Sparrow. Sparrow was a keen collector of contraceptive devices, which were later donated to the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

. In 2015–16, Te Papa used them as the core of an exhibition on contraception.The Dame Margaret Sparrow Collection
tepapa.govt.nz; accessed 21 March 2017.

Publications

* Sparrow
''Abortion Then & Now: New Zealand Abortion Stories From 1940 to 1980''
(Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2010); * Sparrow
''Rough on Women: Abortion in Nineteenth Century New Zealand''
(Wellington, VUP, 2014); * Sparrow
"Risking their Lives: NZ Abortion Stories 1900-1939"
(Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2017);

References

External links

Profile
on the New Zealand Family Planning website

on the Capital and Coast District Health Board website
Interview
on Radio New Zealand National with Wallace Chapman {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Margaret Living people Reproductive rights activists People from Inglewood, New Zealand Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Victoria University of Wellington alumni Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire University of Otago alumni Alumni of the University of London New Zealand abortion-rights activists New Zealand women activists 21st-century New Zealand women medical doctors 21st-century New Zealand medical doctors People educated at New Plymouth Girls' High School People educated at Waitara High School 1935 births Members of district health boards in New Zealand