Remembering May McGee: The ‘hero housewife’ who fought to make contraception legal in Ireland

In the early 1970s Mary ‘May’ and Seamus ‘Shay’ McGee were parents to four young children. On her second and third pregnancies, May had experienced complications so severe that her doctor advised that her life would be in danger if she had any more children.

The GP prescribed a diaphragm and spermicidal jelly to help prevent pregnancy. These had to be imported and were seized by customs with the couple told that if they attempted to import contraceptive devices again, they could be prosecuted.

The couple went to the High Court in 1972 in an attempt to overturn a 1935 ban on the importation of contraceptives.

It was struck out and amid a tide of publicity, the couple appealed to the Supreme Court.

In 1973 they won, with the judge overturning the 1935 Act which prohibited the importation of contraceptives, with the ruling paving the way for vastly improved reproductive choice for women.

The case has been seen as a turning point in society’s perception of the separation of the roles of church and State.

May McGee, was 81 when she died peacefully at Beaumont Hospital in Tuesday surrounded by her family. Shay died in January 2024.

Irish Times journalist Ellen Coyne explains the impact of the couple’s brave decision to take on the State in a very different Ireland.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. 

This podcast was edited to amend a reference to Seán MacBride. He was a member of the IRA, not the Provisional IRA.

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