She was survived by her three children from her first marriage, along with two sisters and two nephews.
A graduate of Oberlin College, she was a noted science writer and syndicated columnist as well as a feminist who primarily wrote about issues involving women's health as well as their sexuality and the dangers of birth-control pills. She was one of the founders of the Women's National Health Network in 1975.
Co-founder of the National Women's Health Network, an advocacy group based in Washington, DC. She was a writer and patients' rights advocate who was one of the first people to bring the issue of women's reproductive health to wider media coverage.