Betty Mary Goetting (''née'' Smith 1897-1980) was an American

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

, civic leader and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist. She is known for bringing

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

Biography

Goetting was born 1897 in

Jefferson, Texas Jefferson is a city in Marion County, Texas, Marion County, in the U.S. state of Texas's Northeast Texas, northeastern region. With a population of 1,875 at the 2020 United States census, it is the county seat of Marion. History Almost every comm ...

. She and her family moved to El Paso in 1910. In 1913, she started working at the

El Paso Public Library The El Paso Public Libraries is the municipal public library system of El Paso, Texas. The library serves the needs the public in El Paso, Texas, Chaparral, New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. It consists of 14 branches and one Bookmobile serv ...

and became close to librarian, Maud Durlin Sullivan. In 1915, she graduated from

El Paso High School El Paso High School is the oldest operating high school in El Paso, Texas, and is part of the El Paso Independent School District. It serves the west-central section of the city, roughly south and west of the Franklin Mountains and north of Inters ...

and then went to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to attend the Riverside Library Service School in 1917. Goetting was appointed as an assistant at the New York Reference Library in 1918. While in New York, Goetting got involved with the

Women's Suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

and the birth control movement. She returned to El Paso in 1919 and married Charles A. Goetting. Goetting became very involved in social groups starting in the 1920s. Some of her involvement in the social world were merely for fun, like the Saturday Bridge Club. Goetting had other interests, such as history and reading. She created the first book club in El paso and co-founded the History Club in El Paso in 1926. Later, she became a charter member of the El Paso Historical Society (EPHS). She was a

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

for EPHS for over 15 years. She was also a frequent contributor to their newsletter, ''Passwords''. Goetting met

Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...

in 1937 when she spoke "to a packed house" at the Paso del Norte Hotel. Sanger and Goetting became close, Goetting often hosting her at her home. Goetting recognized a need for

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

services in El Paso and wanted to start a clinic. She began to search for rental property, but "as soon as property owners knew what the property was to be used for, prices doubled." With the help of her family, the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and several doctors she finally set up the first clinic in 1937, called the El Paso Mother's Health Center (later Planned Parenthood Center of El Paso.) By 1938, they had helped 731 patients in under a year. Sanger wrote to Goetting that year, praising her work. 1939, they changed the name to the El Paso Birth Control Clinic. In 1940, she helped open an axillary clinic in 1940 and by 1954, she had three facilities and all of them affiliated with Planned Parenthood of America. In 1966, she was presented with the National Margaret Sanger Award for her work in promoting birth control. In 1970, she received a Presidential Award for her work as a curator for the EPHS. Goetting continued to fight for women's access to birth control until her death in 1980. In 2009, Goetting was inducted into the Hall of Honor, presented by the El Paso County Historical Society.

References

External links

Betty Mary Goetting
(Borderlands 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Goetting, Betty Mary American birth control activists American librarians American women librarians Activists from El Paso, Texas 1897 births 1980 deaths People from Jefferson, Texas 20th-century American women 20th-century American people American women curators American curators