Diane Munday (née ''Schieferstein'': born March 1931) is a British political activist who, as a leading member of 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 Refo ...

(ALRA) from 1962 until 1974, played a prominent role in the decriminalisation of abortion in the United Kingdom with the

Abortion Act 1967 The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom legalising abortions on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulating the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS ...

. She was also a co-founder of the

British Pregnancy Advisory Service The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) is a British charity whose stated purpose is to avoid unwanted pregnancy by advocating and providing high quality, affordable services to prevent or end unwanted pregnancies with contraception or by ab ...

.''Abortion Law Reformers: Pioneers of Change''
British Pregnancy Advisory Service A longtime associate of the

secular humanist Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...

movement, she has been named a patron of Humanists UK.

Biography

Background and personal life

Diane Schieferstein was born in March 1931 to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. Her mother was "believing but not practicing" and from an early age Diane became attracted to a

worldview. She cited

Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

and

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

as early intellectual influences in this direction. She worked at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London as a laboratory researcher. Schieferstein married Derek Bradlaugh Munday (24 August 1930— April 1996) in December 1954 in East Ham and by her late 20s had three children under the ages of four-years old. Munday has said that when she was pregnant with her third child, she was prescribed

thalidomide Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is a medication used to treat a number of cancers (including multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications o ...

to combat sleeplessness, but did not take it: soon after the

thalidomide scandal In the late 1950s and early 1960s and into the 80s, the use of thalidomide in 46 countries by women who were pregnant or who subsequently became pregnant resulted in the "biggest man-made medical disaster ever," with more than 10,000 children bo ...

broke, where babies were being born with disabilities, due to their mothers taking thalidomide. Thinking that she would have wanted to have had an abortion if she was carrying a disabled child, she joined the

(previously moribund, but receiving a boost in the aftermath of the scandal). She fell pregnant again in 1961 and decided to have an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

; at the time this was a criminal offence in the United Kingdom, contrary to the '' Offences Against the Person Act 1861''. Because her family was relatively wealthy, she did not have a backstreet abortion, but was able to pay for one after visiting a consultant gynaecologist at Harley Street, after a psychiatrist said that her "mental health was so damaged by the pregnancy" that her "life was endangered".

ALRA and the Abortion Act 1967

Following her abortion experience, Munday became more active and vocal within the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA). This organisation had been founded in the 1930s but had not achieved its initial aims among its first generation of activists, being most active just before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. At the next annual general meeting of the ALRA, Munday met Madeleine Simms, an associate of the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...

(as the editor of ''Fabian News'') who shared her Jewish background, and together they would go on to become two of the most prominent faces of the ALRA. At a time when the few women who did have abortions kept such information private, Munday openly discussed her abortion at public-speaking events, on television and on radio interviews, breaking a social taboo. Munday's public activism did not always garner a positive response: the local

greengrocers A greengrocer is a person who owns or operates a shop selling primarily fruit and vegetables. The term may also be used to refer to a shop selling primarily produce. It is used predominantly in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United ...

in the village refused her service, seeing her money as "tainted". She has also stated that she was targeted in a number of direct action episodes: her car was allegedly covered in red paint along with a note stating, “This is the blood of the baby you murdered” and she has also stated that she constantly received late-night calls, one with the sound a child crying and a voice saying “Mama? You murdered me.” In 1963, Vera Houghton (wife of

Douglas Houghton Arthur Leslie Noel Douglas Houghton, Baron Houghton of Sowerby, (11 August 1898 – 2 May 1996) was a British Labour politician. He was the last British Cabinet minister born in the 19th century. After he retired in 1967, every Cabinet minist ...

) became Chair of the ALRA and Diane Munday the vice-chair. During this time period, Houghton doubled up as the Vice President of the British Eugenics Society (later known as the Galton Institute) from 1964–1966, while her husband was a notable within the Fabian Society, who, in 1967 would become Chairman of the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...

. With the ascent of the Labour government in 1964 and the appointment of Harold Wilson as the Prime Minister, the ALRA sent a delegation to

Frank Soskice Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill, (23 July 1902 – 1 January 1979) was a British lawyer and Labour Party politician. Background and education Soskice's father, was from a family of Russian Jewish merchants. David Soskice became involved in ...

, the new Home Secretary, requesting a change to the

abortion law Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...

. However, at the time, the Labour Party was not at all unanimously supportive of abortion (not least because a significant element of Labour's voter base in urban areas were working-class Catholic Irish diaspora who were strongly opposed to it, aside from a general taboo against abortion in society already) and the ALRA was told that this was a highly sensitive issue and that as there was no significant public demand, the government would not address it. Munday was told that the proposition was “too middle-class Hampstead” and that she had to prove demand from ordinary women. Thus, the ALRA decided to ramp up their campaign to manufacture a consensus and Munday personally targeted women's organisations, particularly "respectable" ones such as the

National Council of Women of Great Britain The National Council of Women exists to co-ordinate the voluntary efforts of women across Great Britain. Founded as the National Union of Women Workers, it said that it would "promote sympathy of thought and purpose among the women of Great Brita ...

(known to be fairly socially conservative) and over the space of a few years, Munday trained a network of women to address such meetings, which grew larger and larger, cluminating in a meeting at the

Free Trade Hall The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street, Manchester, England, was constructed in 1853–56 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now a Radisson hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. T ...

in Manchester. The specific aim of the ALRA was to encourage the general public to lobby Members of Parliament to table an

early day motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House a ...

to amend the '' Offences Against the Person Act 1861'', so that a pregnant women can request an abortion on demand (for any reason) and that this be provided by the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

as a tax-payer funded fully legal service. The ALRA also sent out questionnaires to prospective Members of Parliament asking them if they would consider instroducing a bill to change abortion law, if elected: one of the candidates who ticked "yes" was

David Steel David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) is a British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leade ...

, a 28-year-old who was elected as an MP in 1965 for the Liberal Democrats. The ALRA maintained some sympathisers within the Labour Party and thought they had a breakthrough in 1965 when Lord

Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin CH (14 November 1889 – 11 May 1972), was a British Labour Party politician. Career Lewis Silkin was born on 14 November 1889 to Abraham and Fanny Silkin, who were Litvak Jews from what was then the Lithuanian ...

agreed to table a private member's bill after a meeting with Munday, Vera Houghton, Glanville Williams and David Paintin. Silkin's proposals were more modest than the ALRA's full agenda, mainly being aimed at legal protection for doctors, extending abortion to victims of sexual assault and also excluding

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

from being included. Silkin's ''Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bills'' were debated, with Lord Dilhorne,

Lord Denning Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 wh ...

and Lord Stonham, participating in the debate, questioning elements. The bill fell as the Wilson government, who had been elected with a tiny majority in 1964 called a snap election in 1966 and won in a landslide victory. In any case, there had been some disagreements between ALRA and Silkin about the scope of the bill, but they were confident of his support for a future bill and that their case was now growing. After preparing a second bill, Silkin agreed to step aside for Steel's private member bill instead. A working party for the Bill was drawn up including Munday, Vera Houghton, Peter Diggory, Glanville Williams, David Paintin, Lord Silkin and the 12 MP sponsors (including Steel, Michael Winstanley,

John Dunwoody John Elliot Orr Dunwoody CBE (3 June 1929 – 26 January 2006) was a British Labour politician. Dunwoody was educated at St Paul's School, then trained as a doctor at King's College London, and Westminster Hospital Medical School. A surgeon, ...

and David Owen). Most of the wording was taken from the second Silkin Bill. Some amendments were made, but on the day the lobbying of Alastair Service,

John Silkin John Ernest Silkin (18 March 1923 – 26 April 1987) was a British left-wing Labour politician and solicitor. Early life He was the third son of Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin, and a younger brother of Samuel Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwic ...

(Lord Silkin's son), George Sinclair and Peter Jackson whipping MPs in favour of the Bill led to its success. As well as John Silkin, other key members of the Wilson government supported the Bill, including; Roy Jenkins, Kenneth Robinson and

Richard Crossman Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the ...

. Some aspects of the Bill were changed to try and get the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

and

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...

to back it, much to the dismay of Munday and the ALRA. Eventually, the ALRA decided to back the Bill as being better than nothing, and it passed into legislation as the

after an all-night sitting on 27 October 1967. Munday and the ALRA activists stayed up all night to see the Bill pass through the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

, sitting on Parliament terrace, overlooking the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. When it passed, her colleagues were celebrating with

champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...

and strawberries, but she stated that "I only want half a glass because the job is only half done." Munday was disappointed with some key aspects of the Bill: firstly,

was excluded from its effects (it being popular with neither the Catholic or Protestant communities there) and some of the concessions made for it to pass were uncomfortable for her. Two doctors were required to sign off on an abortion, rather than it being simply abortion on demand, abortions had to be carried out at specific NHS facilities and the '' Offences Against the Person Act 1861'' was not actually repealed but simply legislated over, meaning that abortion was still technically a criminal offense, though provided a legal defence for those who perform them.

Other activities

Munday became the General Secretary of ALRA from 1970 and in 1974 she became a founding member, press and publicity officer for Birmingham Pregnancy Advisory Service (later the

). Munday has had a longterm involvement with the

ethical movement The Ethical movement, also referred to as the Ethical Culture movement, Ethical Humanism or simply Ethical Culture, is an ethical, educational, and religious movement that is usually traced back to Felix Adler (1851–1933).

and its successor secular humanism. She joined the

Ethical Union Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious be ...

in the 1950s and was made part of its executive committee when it changed its name to the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

under

A. J. Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer (; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989), usually cited as A. J. Ayer, was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books '' Language, Truth, and Logic'' (1936) ...

. During this time period, the Association was strongly associated with the push towards the "

permissive society A permissive society, also referred to as permissive culture, is a society in which some social norms become increasingly liberal, especially with regard to sexual freedom. This usually accompanies a change in what is considered deviant. While ty ...

", successfully endorsing changing laws in relation to

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

, birth control,

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

and also abortion. Munday has publicly opposed the influence of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

on British society: during her tenure with the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) posters associated with the campaign singled out by name "Roman Catholic" Members of Parliament ( James Dunn and

Norman St John-Stevas Norman Antony Francis St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, ( ; born Norman Panayea St John Stevas; 18 May 1929 – 2 March 2012) was a British Conservative politician, author and barrister. He served as Leader of the House of Commons in th ...

) who opposed changing the law and when she had an abortion in 1961, she complained that the working-class Catholic nurses on shift were not sympathetic to her having an abortion. Munday has argued against any kind of

religious exemption A religious exemption is a legal privilege that exempts members of a certain religion from a law, regulation, or requirement. Religious exemptions are often justified as a protection of religious freedom, and proponents of religious exemptions argu ...

for medical practitioners who do not want to participate in providing abortions, arguing that they should not be employed in health care. Munday also clashed with the

and after her eldest son was called a "pagan" at a local Anglican school, successfully campaigned for a state school in the village of

Wheathampstead Wheathampstead is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north of St Albans. The population of the ward at the 2001 census was 6,058. Included within the parish is the small hamlet of Amwell. History Settlements in this area were ...

. Munday was also appointed a patron of Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association). From 2000 until 2005, she was listed as the Director of the

Rationalist Association The Rationalist Association, originally the Rationalist Press Association, is an organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual tenor ...

and its affiliated ''Rationalist Press Association''. Munday has also been involved in lobbying in favour of

voluntary euthanasia Voluntary euthanasia (VE) is the ending of a person's life at their request in order to relieve them of suffering. Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in recent years. Some forms of ...

(and assisted suicide), being a "carer" for three people who wish to undergo euthanasia. She was involved in the

Diane Pretty Diane Pretty (15 November 1958 – 11 May 2002) was a British woman from Luton who was the focus of a debate about the laws of euthanasia in the United Kingdom during the early part of the 21st century. She had attempted to change British law so sh ...

case, arguing against the result of the ''

Pretty v United Kingdom ''Pretty v. United Kingdom'' (2346/02) was a case decided by European Court of Human Rights in 2002. Facts Diane Pretty was suffering from motor neurone disease and was paralysed from the neck down, had little decipherable speech and was fed by ...

'' case under the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

which decided that the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

did not provide a "

right to die The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without ...

" and that her husband could not hope to escape prosecution if he "assisted" in her death. Munday argued: "It is now legal to commit suicide in the UK: it is illegal to discriminate against the disabled. But in this scenario a person who is prevented from taking their own life as a direct consequence of their disability is clearly discriminated against in a most fundamental way."

Filmography

* ''Abortion on Trial'' (2017)

References

Footnotes

External links

Diane Munday
at

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munday, Diane 1931 births Living people British abortion-rights activists English atheists English humanists English Jews Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom Euthanasia in the United Kingdom