Elizabeth Connell

Elizabeth B. Connell (November 17, 1925 – August 20, 2018) was an American doctor and proponent of women's reproductive health.

Early life and education Elizabeth Kincaid Bishop was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 17, 1925, to college professors Homer and Margaret Bishop. She got her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951 and began her career as a general practitioner in Blue Hill, Maine.

Career Observing the effects of botched abortions and unwanted pregnancies on her patients' lives in rural Maine contributed to Bishop's later views on abortion and reproductive care. Instead of becoming an occupational therapist as she had planned, she trained in surgery, specializing in obstetrics. She moved to New York City in 1960 to attend Mount Sinai Hospital for her residency and she became part of the faculty at Columbia University. During the 1960s, she helped to open a women's health clinic in East Harlem.

Prior to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Connell advocated for the legalization of abortion. While leading a committee to advise the Food and Drug Administration, she raised concerns about the health risks of breast implants. In 1970, she admonished a Congressional subcommittee for causing "panic" about oral contraceptives, stating that it had resulted in "dozens of unwanted pregnancies". an obstetrician with whom she often collaborated. She had six children and three stepchildren. Tatum died in 2002. Connell died of congestive heart failure in Framingham, Massachusetts on August 20, 2018.