Merle S. Goldberg

Goldberg was born in New York City and later attended Brooklyn College. She had a master's degree from Columbia University. Goldberg was a former Newsday staff writer.{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/mississippi/biloxi/biloxi-daily-herald/1970/10-01/page-50?tag=abortion+merle+goldberg&rtserp=tags/abortion?pep=merle-goldberg|title=Atmosphere of Relaxation Prevails at New York Abortion Clinic|last=Shelton|first=Elizabeth|date=1 October 1970|work=Biloxi Daily Herald|url-access=subscription |access-date=28 March 2016|via=Newspaper Archive}}

Goldberg created the National Women's Health Coalition which monitored abortion clinics and hospitals performing abortions in order to help maintain good standards of health.{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1982&dat=19741210&id=myJHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YzMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4195,1760230&hl=en|title=Abortion Debated|date=10 December 1974|work=The Evening News|access-date=28 March 2016}} She also worked with various abortion providers, including Harvey Karman. Karman worked with Goldberg on menstrual extraction, which was called the "lunch-hour abortion."{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-18-me-karman18-story.html|title=Creator of Device for Safer Abortions|last=Woo|first=Elaine|date=18 May 2008|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=28 March 2016}}{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1870&dat=19731218&id=OegeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eswEAAAAIBAJ&pg=816,1807522&hl=en|title=Lunch Hour Abortion Devised|last=Brody|first=Jane E.|date=18 December 1973|work=Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal|access-date=29 March 2016}} A menstrual extraction cost about $30, compared to the price of a regular abortion which ranged from $150 to $1,500.{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/oklahoma/lawton/lawton-constitiution/1972/08-16/page-10?tag=abortion+merle+goldberg&rtserp=tags/abortion?pep=merle-goldberg|title=Effective Bridge Between Birth Control, Abortion Developed|last=Gibson|first=Gwen|date=16 August 1972|work=Lawton Constitution|url-access=subscription |access-date=28 March 2016|via=Newspaper Archive}}

Goldberg also collaborated with Karman in 1972 to help perform abortions on women in Bangladesh who had been raped by the Pakistani army.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mVEvGtopc2EC&q=%22merle+goldberg%22+abortion&pg=PT80|title=The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World|last=Goldberg|first=Michelle|publisher=The Penguin Press|year=2009|isbn=9781101028766|location=New York}} Sandra Kabir reported that hundreds of thousands of women had been raped in Bangladesh at this time.{{Sfn|McFarland|Kabir|2004|p=19-20}} Later, Karman and Goldberg had a serious problem with an experimental abortion method known as the supercoil abortion which later caused dangerous side effects.{{Cite journal|last=BenDor|first=Jan|date=January 1974|title=Supercoil Abortion|url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=CBGJBDI19740101.1.9&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1#|journal=Her-Self|volume=2|issue=7|page=8|access-date=28 March 2016}} Goldberg intended to help women from Chicago who were scheduled to have abortions, but whose clinic had been shut down.{{Sfn|Fishel|1973|p=58}} On the weekend of May 13, 1972,{{Sfn|Philadelphia Women's Health Collective and Friends|1973|p=28}} she brought the women to Philadelphia where Karman would use the supercoil method.{{Sfn|Fishel|1973|p=58}} The method had not been tested carefully prior to using it on the women from Chicago.{{Cite journal|last=BenDor|first=Jan|date=January 1974|title=Supercoil Abortion|url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=CBGJBDI19740101.1.9&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1#|journal=Her-Self|volume=2|issue=7|page=8|access-date=28 March 2016}} Critics of the incident said that women were being experimented on, however, Goldberg insisted that they knew the risks going into the procedure.{{Cite journal|last=BenDor|first=Jan|date=January 1974|title=Supercoil Abortion|url=http://voices.revealdigital.com/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=CBGJBDI19740101.1.9&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1#|journal=Her-Self|volume=2|issue=7|page=8|access-date=28 March 2016}} Karman and Goldberg again helped provide abortions in Cyprus in 1974 where women had been raped during the Turkish invasion.

Goldberg managed the United Nations 1975 Conference on the Status of Women. Goldberg later helped Kabir obtain funding to start the Bangladesh Women's Health Coalition in 1980.{{Sfn|McFarland|Kabir|2004|p=20}}

Goldberg moved to Washington D.C. in 1984. She died at George Washington University Hospital of renal disease on November 29, 1998.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal|last=Fishel|first=Elizabeth|date=November 1973|title=Women's Self-Help Movement|url=http://medicstories.wikidot.com/womens-self-help-movement-elizabeth-fishel|journal=Ramparts Magazine|access-date=28 March 2016}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://www.smith.edu/library/libs/ssc/prh/transcripts/kabir-trans.pdf|title=Population and Reproductive Health Oral History Project|last1=McFarland|first1=Deborah|last2=Kabir|first2=Sandra|publisher=Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College|year=2004|chapter=Sandra Kabir}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Philadelphia Women's Health Collective and Friends|date=March 1973|title=The Philadelphia Story|url=http://science-for-the-people.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SftPv5n2s.pdf|journal=Science for the People|volume=5|issue=2|pages=28–31|access-date=28 March 2016}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Merle S.}}

Category:American abortion providers

Category:Journalists from New York City

Category:1936 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:American feminists

Category:Brooklyn College alumni

Category:Columbia University alumni

{{Authority control}}