Lee Minto
Lee Minto (born 1927) is an American women's health activist and sex education advocate. She served as Executive Director of the Seattle-King County chapter of Planned Parenthood for 27 years, and was instrumental in Washington State Referendum 20, a referendum in 1970 that successfully legalized early pregnancy abortion in the state of Washington. Early life and education Minto was born October 11, 1927, in Hamilton, Montana. Her grandparents had moved to Montana from Virginia in 1890; Minto's grandfather was the personal attorney of "Copper King" Marcus Daly and had helped form Montana's first legislature. Minto met her husband, B-29 pilot Robert Minto, during her sophomore year at the University of Montana, and they married three months later. The couple moved to Washington soon after their marriage, and Minto finished her education at the University of Washington. They had three children – two daughters and a son. Career Minto's first paid position was a job at the UN Pavilion at Seattle's World Fair in 1962. Planned Parenthood In the late 1950s, a friend had asked Minto to join the local Seattle-King County board of Planned Parenthood. Concerned by the lack of practical sex education in schools, and by the absence of birth control and women's health issues in media coverage, Minto began teaching sex education in schools and giving speeches locally in her role as a Planned Parenthood volunteer. She developed a sex education association for King County. The Seattle-King County Planned Parenthood had been largely run by volunteers up to this point, but in 1967 the organization wanted to expand its services into other parts of Washington, and Minto was hired as the full-time executive director. Washington State Referendum 20 In 1967, Washington psychologist Sam Goldenberg organized a meeting of medical, legal and religious professionals to discuss the health crisis created by lack of access to safe abortions, and Minto was invited to attend. Aside from her work at Planned Parenthood, Minto was already aware of the need for safe abortions through administrative work at the University Unitarian Church, where she had encountered young pregnant women – and their male partners – searching for assistance. Sam Goldenberg's group continued its discussions and debates, formally becoming the Citizens' Abortion Study Group (later renamed the Washington Citizens for Abortion Reform). Despite being supportive of a woman's right to choose, Minto later recalled that the group was primarily focused on the healthcare issues involved: Those of us who worked on this, I guess it would be fair to say we were less concerned about women's rights than women's health. The medical people who were involved had all had direct experience with the very harmful effects of back alley abortions. The group concluded that the state needed to legalize abortions, and they subsequently drafted a bill to submit to legislature. Despite the endorsement of the bill by dozens of groups, including the Washington State Medical Association and the Washington Citizens' Committee on Crime, and the support of Republican Governor Dan Evans, the bill was