Norma Meras Swenson honored by New York Times Magazine

By Maggie Jones • New York Times Magazine • December 28, 2025

color photograph of Norma Meras Swenson, smiling, wearing glasses and a black top, ger gray hair swept back by the wind, in front of sand dunes, under a blue sky.

Norma Meras Swenson, an Our Bodies Ourselves founder and leader of the global health movement, is one of the luminaries remembered this year in The New York Times Magazine's annual feature, "The Lives They Lived."

Maggie Jones' piece opens with the harrowing personal experience that led Norma to become a childbirth activist, and then to join the Boston Women's Health Book Collective. Jones writes:

"At 39, with a 13-year-old daughter, Swenson was about a decade older than most of the other women. To the group, she brought her vast knowledge about childbirth and the medical system. In turn, the women and the work radicalized her."

Norma continued her advocacy by leading international projects for the Collective, by contributing to each new edition of "Our Bodies, Ourselves," and by teaching a new generation of activists who continue to carry forward the vital work of women's health around the world.

Norma passed away on May 11, 2025. "They Lives They Lived" honors her alongside other distinguished individuals whom we lost this year, including Jane Goodall, Assata Shakur, Diane Keaton, and Anna Ornstein. The full feature is available online to NYT subscribers and in print on December 28.

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