SHEPPARD-TOWNER MATERNITY AND INFANCY PROTECTION ACT

SHEPPARD-TOWNER MATERNITY AND INFANCY PROTECTION ACT of 1921 provided a system of federal funding to enhance the health and welfare of women and children. Grace Abbott, Julia Lathrop, and other feminist activists worked to get the statute adopted, and it was consistent with the social goals of the women's movement of the nineteenth century. Various medical groups, including the American Medical Association, opposed passage. Funding under the act ended in 1929, and the effort to achieve further federal support of such programs was not successful until the New Deal.

In addition to its role in the history of women and welfare, the Sheppard-Towner Act has a significant place in the history of federalism and the expanded role of the federal government. The act for the first time said it was appropriate for the federal government to respond directly to the needs of women and children. This was and has remained a contested issue.

There are continuities between the Sheppard-Towner Act and subsequent efforts to promote women's welfare, such as the attempt to establish federal support for displaced homemakers and women's health equity. The Displaced Homemakers Act was not funded, however, and the Women's Health Equity Act was not adopted in the form originally proposed, though some elements were incorporated in other statutes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kessler-Harris, Alice. In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Rude, Anna Elizabeth. The Sheppard-Towner Act in Relation to Public Health. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1921.

CarolWeisbrod

See alsoWomen's Health .