More than 100 years ago (November 1921), U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act into law. The law was the country’s first federally-funded social welfare program. It provided one million dollars every year over five years to support state-run programs that help women and children, with the goal of lowering the high mortality rates of mothers and babies. Women activists, using their newly won voting rights, were particularly active in urging Congress to pass the five-year program and renew it in 1926. The Sheppard-Towner Act expired in 1929, due in part to challenges to its constitutionality in the Supreme Court and opposition from the American Medical Association.
The law originated as a bill (H.R. 12624) introduced in Congress by Montana Representative Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress. She is shown here (first row, fourth from left) with other well-hatted supporters of the bill. (photo credit: Library of Congress)
There were opposition voices to the bill, who argued that the federal government should not encroach on physicians’ authority and livelihoods. A letter from Mrs. Mae C. Mitchell of Baltimore, shown here, presents an example of such arguments.
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Stephanie Weiner
Director, Digital Strategy & Engagement
Association of American Medical Colleges
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