Faye Wattleton

Who is Faye Wattleton?

Faye Wattleton is the first African-American and youngest president ever elected to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and is also the first woman since Margaret Sanger to hold the position. She is best known for her contributions to the family planning and reproductive health, as well as the pro-choice movement.

Wattleton was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1943, the only child of a construction worker father and a mother who was a seamstress and a Church of God minister. During her childhood, her mother's calling meant that the family traveled frequently, and Wattleton saw the emotional effect her mother's preaching had on the congregation. Although her mother never approved of her work in reproductive rights, Wattleton considers the principle of nonjudgment espoused by the faith of her upbringing to have had a deep impact on her future work in family planning.

Entering Ohio State University at age 17, she was awarded a bachelor's degree in nursing in 1964, and went on to teach at a nursing school in Dayton, Ohio for two years. She earned her Master of Science degree in maternal and infant care, with certification as a nurse-midwife, from Columbia University in 1967. She has received 13 honorary doctoral degrees.