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Women's health care pioneer Mabel Wadsworth dies at 95(Bangor Daily News (Maine) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 12--BANGOR -- Mabel Wadsworth, a pioneer in the advancement of women's health care and birth control in the state of Maine, died Wednesday, leaving behind a legacy that lives on through a center named in her honor. She was 95. "The work that she did for women around reproductive rights and delivery of service has been long-lasting," longtime friend Ruth Lockhart, executive director of the Mabel Wadsworth Women's Health Center in Bangor, said Wednesday. "Her legacy lives on through the center and to those here who are devoted to her own principles." Reached for comment late Wednesday, Gov. John Baldacci called Wadsworth a "great lady with a lot of class." "She was there to help women who could not afford health care," Baldacci said, referring to the opening of the center. "She was a human rights pioneer; if it were not for Mabel Wadsworth, there would not have been as many women receiving health care." Born Mabel Sine in Rochester, N.Y., Wadsworth moved to Bangor in 1946 with her husband, Dr. Richard Wadsworth. She had just earned a nursing degree from the University of Rochester and had become intrigued by the ideas of Margaret Sanger, a national leader in women's reproductive rights. In the 1950s and 1960s, Wadsworth recruited many like-minded women to join her in a door-to-door campaign educating rural Maine women about birth control. "It wasn't about feminism back in those days," Wadsworth said in a recent interview with the Bangor Daily News. "It was simply educating women that you really and truly could take a pill and not have any more babies. It took some convincing for a lot of them, but when they tried it, they found it worked quite well." She went on to become the first president of the Maine Family Planning Association and, in the early 1970s, Wadsworth was instrumental in helping pass legislation that mandated teenagers' rights to confidential contraceptive services. "Fundamentally, she thought about these issues in a way that was very progressive and innovative," said Sharon Barker, director of the Women's Resource Center at the University of Maine and another longtime friend. "She addressed issues before they arose, and really worked to place the power about women's bodies in the hands of the women themselves." In 1984, the Mabel Wadsworth Women's Health Center opened in Bangor. While Wadsworth did not found the center, today it remains a landmark in honor of the woman who spent tireless years advocating for women. "That's why the center was formed, to make sure government restrictions would not interfere [with women's rights]," Lockhart said. Wadsworth's community involvement in volunteer organizations included the League of Women Voters and the Eastern Maine General Hospital Auxiliary. In 1990 she was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame. "She was someone who really saw the potential in people, who really gave people a chance," Barker said, remember her friend's ability to cross generation gaps and connect to women of all ages. Barker said she would remember Wadsworth's wit and sometimes-brutal honesty. "She maintained her sense of humor right up until the end," she said. "There was always something to laugh about with Mabel." Lockhart remembered one of her last conversations with Wadsworth. "We talked about passing the torch, and I didn't realize how heavy it was going to be," Lockhart said with a somber laugh. "But she told us we could carry it. She seemed to be very resolved about her legacy." A celebration of Wadsworth's life will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13 at Brookings-Smith Funeral Home at 133 Center St., Bangor. |