National Council of Churches Endorses Birth Control
The National Council of Churches represented the major Protestant religious denominations and, in the 1960s, became increasingly active on social issues, particularly civil rights. The support for birth control announced on this day reflected the strong consensus of opinion among Protestants on this issue.
The NCC statement, however, unequivocally condemned abortion as destroying human life. The attitudes of Protestants and the major Protestant denominations on abortion would change dramatically in the next decade and most but not all denominations would support abortion rights.
Learn about the National Council of Churches today: http://www.nationalcouncilofchurches.us/
Read: Linda Gordon, The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America, 3rd ed. (2007)
The “Sixties” really began in the mid-1950s and ended in the early 1970s. Read: Christopher B. Strain, The Long Sixties: America, 1955-1973 (2016)
View a timeline on the history of birth control here