Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson, 1926-2010. R.I.P.

Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson passed away over the weekend. Her cause of death is unknown. She was 84.

Dr. Jefferson was something of a medical pioneer when in 1951 she became the first African-American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School. She later became the first woman to work as a surgical intern at Boston City Hospital.

Dr. Jefferson was a founding member of the National Right to Life Committee and served as its President for three terms. She also ran for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts as a Republican unsuccessfully on three occasions.

I suspect we would know a lot more about Dr. Jefferson's achievements in medicine if not for her pro-life activism. If Dr. Jefferson had been a pro-choice activist I submit that she would have a statue erected in her honor somewhere in the Longwood Medical Area.