Edris Roushan Rice-Wray (January 21, 1904 in
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
,
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is located in the northeastern part of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 863,728, making it the state's second-most populous county, behind Bergen and Middlesex Counties. ,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
– February 19, 1990 in
San Andres Cholula,
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
, Mexico), was a pioneer in medical research who helped to prove the worth of the
oral contraceptive pill. Her work on the birth control injection pill is especially notable as medical research was influential in the creation of the birth control pill.
Rice-Way headed a large scale, clinical trial of the
first birth control pill in the late 1950s in Puerto Rico.
Education
Rice-Wray attended
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
Degree where she specialized in public health. She also attended
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
where she was a member of the
Alpha Phi sorority. She received the award of ''
sesquicentennial
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...
'' from "knowledge, wisdom and courage of service"' at the University of Michigan in 1967.
Medical experience
Rice-Wray worked as a doctor at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
, and had a long career working for the advancement of
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
. She was a faculty member of the
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
Medical School and medical director of the Puerto Rico Family Planning Association. It was there that she headed the first large scale clinical trials working for over 17 years until the
UN (
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
) called her to work in Mexico. In 1959 she founded Mexico's first family planning clinic in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.
Clinical trials in Puerto Rico and work on the birth control pill
In the early 1950s, Rice-Wray's work was focused on studying the effectiveness of the pill. In order to prove the safety of the pill, researchers and activists including
John Rock,
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 ...
and
Katherine McCormick felt human trials had to be conducted. During this time Rice-Wray was working for the Puerto Rican Health Service. Puerto Rico was selected as the location for these trials in 1955 in part because there was an existing network of birth control clinics serving low-income women on the island and liberalized laws existed regarding distributing information about family planning. In 1937, a law had been passed in Puerto Rico that made it legal for married couples to receive advice about contraception. Since accessing the pill was legal, trials began there in 1956. In April 1956, Rice-Wray had been working with the Family Planning Association of Puerto Rico and joined this project. Some of the women who participated in the study experienced "the pill" (
Enovid
Mestranol/norethynodrel was the first combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) being mestranol and norethynodrel. It sold as Enovid in the United States and as Enavid in the United Kingdom. Developed by Gregory Pincus at G. D. Searle & Company, ...
). In 1956, she starting to distribute these pills. Rice-Wray noticed early on that there were potentially problematic side effects from the dosage in the early birth control pill. Her concerns were initially dismissed by Dr. Rock and Gregory Pincus who argued those concerns raised by women were unfounded. Experiments in her studies were closely supervised by Rice-Wray and she never lost interest in finding more effective methods for controlling fertility. Rice-Wray saw a direct link between large family sizes and poverty. In 1955, she was reported as saying, "When all Puerto Rican parents can have the number of children they want and can properly care for, much of the misery and desperation of our poorer classes can be eliminated...then employment opportunities, schooling, housing, medical and welfare services will have a chance of meeting the needs of our people." Despite the controversial nature of fertility research, Rice-Wray's research was closely watched and reported on in the United States. In 1963, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported on the details of her research as part of their coverage on a
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 ...
conference.
Personal life
Rice-Wray was the daughter of Mabel and Theron Canfield Rice-Wray who were married in 1903. Originally from New York City, Rice-Way spent much of her adult life in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Faith was an important aspect of her personal life. She was one of the early followers of the
Baháʼí Faith in Mexico
The Baháʼí Faith in Mexico begins with visits of Baháʼís before 1916. In 1919 letters from the head of the religion, Abdu'l-Bahá, were published mentioning Mexico as one of the places Baháʼís should take the religion to. Following furth ...
and obtained the rights to the Spanish translation of the
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
book ''Portals of Freedom'' while in México.
Awards and accolades
She received several awards for her work in publicizing the effectiveness and benefits of the pill in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, she was the recipient of
Planned Parenthood Federation of America's and received the
Margaret Sanger Award
The Margaret Sanger Award was an honor awarded annually by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 1966 to 2015. Created to honor the legacy of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, it is the Federation's highest honor. It ...
in 1978.
She showed a long-standing commitment to public health and wellness. Gregory Pincus, who was often credited with creating the pill, would often cite the work of Rice-Wray as being instrumental to its success.
By the 1970s she moved to
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
, in the municipality of Cholula where she worked as Professor at
UDLA (University of the Americas Puebla) in the fields of
Ecology
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
,
Anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
and
Population Studies, where she continues to have medical consultations helping and contributing knowledge to medicine in
San Pedro Cholula and
San Andrés Cholula, Puebla including
contraceptive pill.
Later years
During the last days of her life, she lived in
Cholula, Puebla
Cholula (), officially Cholula de Rivadavia, is a city and district located in the metropolitan area of Puebla, Mexico. Cholula is best known for its Great Pyramid, with the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios sanctuary on top, as well as ...
, Mexico, and died at her home in
San Andres Cholula, accompanied by her daughters and grandchildren in 1990.
See also
*
Contraceptive Trials in Puerto Rico
The first large-scale human trial of the birth control pill was carried out in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. Between conceptualization and legalization of the first birth control drug in the United States in 1960, there were many developments and tria ...
*
Enovid
Mestranol/norethynodrel was the first combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) being mestranol and norethynodrel. It sold as Enovid in the United States and as Enavid in the United Kingdom. Developed by Gregory Pincus at G. D. Searle & Company, ...
*
Oral contraceptive pill
*
Gregory Goodwin Pincus
*
Katharine McCormick
Katharine Dexter McCormick (August 27, 1875 – December 28, 1967) was a U.S. suffragist, philanthropist and, after her husband's death, heir to a substantial part of the McCormick family fortune. She funded most of the research necessary to d ...
*
John Rock
*
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 ...
References
External links
Dr. Edris Roushan Rice-Wray SimonsReproduccion Following Oral Contracenpcion with Edris Rice-Wray, M.D. and Hector R. Acuna, M.D.*[https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/med00694/catalog Edris Rice-Wray Papers, 1937-1983 (inclusive), 1960-1970 (bulk). H MS c537. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.]
Edris Rice-Wray Oral History, Interviewed by Ellen Chesler and James Reedat the
Sophia Smith Collection
The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history.
General
One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, ar ...
, Smith College Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice-Wray Carson, Edris
1990 deaths
1904 births
American birth control activists
Cornell University alumni
American Bahá'ís
People associated with Planned Parenthood
20th-century Bahá'ís