18 Dr. Jessie Laird Brodie (she/her)
By Jordan Robertson-Modell (he/him)
In 1898, a woman named Jessie Laird Brodie was born in Michigan. In 1931, Brodie knew Americans lacked access to something very important, birth control. Brodie first began tackling this issue in 1935 when she worked with lawyers to help pass a law in the Oregon State Legislature where she lived. Soon after the law passed in Oregon, similar laws were passed in the majority of other states. For Brodie, getting laws passed was one her multiple accomplishments.
When she graduated from Reed College in 1920, her dad did not want her to go to medical school, because when he was in medical school in the 1890s, women faced sexist discrimination. He was worried about his daughter being treated badly. However, Brodie’s father ended up becoming supportive of her going back to medical school. In 1965, Brodie became the first paid staff member and executive director of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette. In this position, she ensured health departments around Oregon were providing contraception advice. Separately, Brodie got state health officers to help supply clinics with the resources necessary, in order to help people suffering from diabetes or tuberculosis.
Brodie was also responsible for creating an organization called the Pan American Medical Women’s Alliance (PAMWA), created in 1947. The alliance helped Latin American women doctors advance their scientific knowledge, while beginning in their careers. PAMWA provided doctors with basic knowledge including how to read medical papers and information for treating certain diseases. She was also the president of the first United Nations (UN) chapter in Oregon and was a board member for the American United Nations Association, demonstrating her dedication towards helping with international causes.
As part of her UN work, she worked with Eleanor Roosevelt. The pathfinder fund encouraged her to set up clinics in Latin America. The fund is a non-profit organization which supports the protection of reproductive rights around the world. Brodie also traveled to Haiti to meet with citizens who were trying to set up a family planning program. In Haiti, she managed to get funding to set up a meeting of health workers. Brodie also was the first woman pediatrics resident at Doernbecher Memorial Hospital for Children in Portland, Oregon.
Unfortunately, Jessie Laird Brodie died at age 92 in 1990. Brodie’s estate was used to create a scholarship fund for international students at Lewis and Clark College, exhibiting how she continues to make lasting impacts globally, even after her death.
