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- Gertrude Aldredge Shelburne (1907-1993) was an activist, philanthropist, and supporter of contraceptive rights from Dallas, Texas. She was a member of the women's rights movement in Texas in the 1930s and '40s. In 1933, Shelburne joined forces with "an unlikely group of Dallas socialites drawn into the fledgling movement [now] known as the Planned Parenthood Federation." She and other Dallas-area women worked with Margaret Sanger to distribute contraceptives illicitly, with Sanger shipping diaphragms and condoms hidden in shirt boxes from New York for distribution to women in Texas. At the time, anti-contraception laws were the norm in the United States, and sharing information about contraception was prohibited by Comstock laws in many parts of the country. Shipping birth control across state lines was also against the law at the time. In honor of her work to expand access to birth control in the Dallas area, Shelburne was made the namesake of a Greater Texas Planned Parenthood achievement award. Texans lost the right to abortion when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Texas criminalized abortion. However, the right to contraceptives and emergency contraception (Plan B) still stands, with costs usually covered by health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act. (en)
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