Abortion rights pioneer dead at 102

Ruth Proskauer Smith, a longtime reproductive rights advocate who helped found what is now Naral Pro-Choice America, died Jan. 22 at her home in Manhattan. She was 102. In 1969, Ms. Smith and 11 others formed the first steering committee of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, as the organization was then known. In recent years, Ms. Smith remained involved with Naral Pro-Choice New York, an affiliate of the national body. She was also active in the right-to-die movement, advocating that physician-assisted suicide be legally available to terminally ill people. Boston Globe