Mary ‘May’ McGee, whose 1973 Supreme Court case taken alongside her husband Seamus ‘Shay’ and which effectively overturned a 1935 ban on the sale of contraceptives, has died.
Ms McGee, known as May, passed away peacefully at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on Tuesday, surrounded by her family. Shay died in January 2024. A celebration of her life is to be held in Dardistown Crematorium on Saturday.
As well as overturning the 1935 Act which prohibited the importation of contraceptive devices, the ruling paved the way for vastly improved reproductive choice for women. The case has also been seen as a turning point in society’s perception of the separation of the roles of church and State.
In the early 1970s the couple were the parents of four children. Their second and third pregnancies had been complicated by severe cerebral thrombosis and Ms McGee had also suffered a stroke and temporary paralysis. The couple were advised by their GP that Ms McGee’s life would be endangered by future pregnancies. She was then instructed to use a diaphragm and spermicidal jelly that were prescribed to her.
RM Block
[ We were condemned from the alter Opens in new window ]
However, these had to be imported and were seized by customs. The couple were told that if they attempted to import contraceptive devices again, they could be prosecuted.
Their legal challenge to the law was struck down by the High Court in 1972. Amid large-scale publicity, the couple appealed to the Supreme Court.
On December 19th 1973, the Supreme Court ruled by a four-to-one majority in favour of the McGees, after determining that married couples have the constitutional right to make private decisions on family planning.
This August, aged 81, a mosaic was unveiled in Ms McGee’s honour in her hometown of Skerries, Co Dublin. In an interview with The Irish Times she recalled: “We were condemned from the altar. They said, ‘Certain people in this parish have brought the church into disrepute’. So we all got up and walked out. I never went back again.”
Since then, much has changed surrounding reproductive rights in Ireland. With the repeal of the Eighth Amendment during the referendum in May 2018, the near-total ban on abortion in the State ended.
More recently, the Free Contraception Scheme allows women aged 17 to 35 access contraception with ease. “That’s great. To think you had all that fuss years ago,” Ms McGee said of the change.
