Horace Hale Harvey III, a supporter of early abortion, dies at 93

On July 1, 1970, one of the first independent abortion clinics in the country opened to Upper East Side in Manhattan. Recent York has just reformed his rules, allowing the woman to end pregnancy in the first trimester of pregnancy – or at any time if her life was threatened. Suddenly the state had the most liberal abortion in the country.

Women’s services, as the clinic was known for the first time, were supervised by an unusual team: Horace Hale Harvey III, a doctor with a doctorate. In philosophy, which, unknown to the clinic, made illegal abortion in Nowy Orleans; Barbara Pyle, a 23-year-old philosophy PhD student who studied sex education and abortion practices in Europe; and an organization known as a consultation service on abortion, a group of rabbis and Protestant ministers who believed that women deserve access to safe and sound and inexpensive abortion, and which created a referral service to find and verify those who testify to them.

What distinguished women’s services – a non -profit organization, which for the first time operated from a series of offices at East 73RD Street and accused herself on a sliding scale, from 200 USD – was its advisers. There were no doctors, but ordinary women, many of whom had only abortions. Their role was that patients from the abortion process, using a pelvic model to explain the procedure in detail, accompanying women in the treatment room and sitting with them. They also informed about the doctor’s performance. It was a model that other clinics would accept in the coming months and years.

The clinic’s humanitarian approach was in a clear contrast with the attitude of many hospital staff at the time, wrote Jane Brody of the Recent York Times in 1970. “Do not make it easier for the patient,” one administrator put it, summarizing the philosophy of the hospital. “If it’s too basic, he will return here in three months for another abortion.”

Women’s services also had other unique functions. Waiting for music, and the operational tables were shot shot with brilliant colorful pot owners, blooming Dr. Harvey, who died on February 14, brought with him from the time, working outside the hotel rooms in Nowy Orlean.

Unlike many illegal abortion providers on these days pre-roe v. Wade, who made this process the most captivating and quick, as is possible in anticipation of police raid, Dr. Harvey not only softened the atmosphere of the procedure of his up-to-date Orleans to be less terrifying; Later, he also offered women and Coca-Cola cookies to support them regenerate.

“Harvey’s belief was such that even a well patient would feel ailing, in the face of a cool, sterile hospital environment,” Arlene Carmen and Reverend Howard Moody, the leader of the consultation service of the clergy, wrote in their book from 1973 about the group, “abortion counseling and social change from illegal action to medical practice.” “Since abortion was not a disease, the atmosphere related to hospitals should be avoided.”

Dr. Harvey was 93 years vintage when he died in a hospital in the city of Dorchester in England, after falling, said his daughter Kate Harvey. He has lived in England for many years.

Women’s services opened in the amount of $ 15,000 from dr. Harveya. Mrs. Pyle, who was an administrator, described in an interview with the disordered early days when customers poured from all over the country. The clinic operated from 8am to midnight, and the staff worked two shifts. Mrs. Dyle slept on the couch in the building. On average, she said that the clinic performed about 72 abortion a day.

The newspapers wrote glowing reports, distinguishing Dr. Harvey as an innovator. But after less than a year, Mrs. Carmen and Mr. Moody disclosed from the consultation of the clergy with horror that Dr. Harvey was working without a medical license. He gave up him in 1969, after the authorities in Louisiana found out that he was making illegal abortions. He had to go and quickly before he threatened the legal status of women’s services.

Dr. Harvey became an abortion supplier to fight what he considered an epidemic of risky abortion at a time when unmarried women were refused access to contraceptives and when comprehensive sex education was discouraged. Women with low income suffered disproportionately.

As a teenager, raised as a conservative Christian, Dr. Harvey underwent a period of searching for a soul, stating that he was an atheist. During the Vietnam war, he registered as a conscientious opponent; Instead of fighting, he worked as a health advisor later, in Nowy Orlean, he founded an independent sex education program, lecturing, answering questions by phone and distributing brochures at university campus.

For Dr. Harvey, the importance of abortion was to prevent the “loss of women’s potential,” said Mrs. Harvey, his daughter. “It was a matter of the principle for him.”

Horace Hale Harvey III was born on December 7, 1931 in Nowy Orleana in a once correct family, which developed the so -called Harvey channel, which became part of the inside waterway in 1924. His father, Horace Hale Harvey Jr., was a gambling, and the family was delicate; They moved a lot when he tried various professions, including the founding of a loan company. His mother, Florence (Krueger) Harvey, was a secretary.

Horace studied philosophy at Louisiana State University, winning the title of bachelor’s degree in 1955, and the medical degree in 1966. In 1969 he received a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate. In philosophy, both from the University of Tulane, in Recent Orleans.

Dr. Harvey moved to England after leaving the Recent York Abortion Clinic – the choice he made, said his daughter because he approved the British national health service. He decided on the island of Wight, a different choice considered: according to his research, he had the highest average temperature and received more sun hours than anywhere else in England.

Dr. Harvey briefly worked on public health in his up-to-date country, advising screening procedures in the field of cervical cancer, but spent most of the time to study aging – preparing at his vintage age – reading philosophy and dealing with his duties as an owner.

He bought Puckaster Close, a wandering Victorian house, turning him into apartments that he renewed in the style of such a “bizarre and characteristic” style, as Dr. Harvey himself said, his son Russell.

In addition to his daughter and son, Dr. Harvey survived three grandchildren. His marriage with Helen Cox, the school director, ended in divorce.