Elizabeth Wilson

Elizabeth Stanfield Bell Wilson (3 June 1926 – 29 March 2016) was a family planning physician and right to die campaigner. She founded the 408 Clinic, a women's health centre in Sheffield, and was a founder member of FATE (Friends at the End), an organisation lobby for a change in legislation to allow assisted dying. In 2009, she was arrested by police in Surrey on suspicion of advising a woman who had advanced multiple sclerosis on how to end her life. Early life Elizabeth (nickname, "Libby") Stanfield Bell Wilson was born in Surrey on 3 June 1926, the eldest of the three children of Lucy (née Stanfield) and James Bell Nicoll, a physician and medical missionary. The family moved to Aviemore in 1936, after her father secured an appointment there. They lived there for two years before returning to Wonersh, near Guildford, where they lived for another two years. During the Blitz, Wilson was evacuated along with her mother and siblings to the village of Penpont in Dumfriesshire. She was educated at St Catherine's School near Guildford before going on to study medicine at King's College, London. She graduated from King's College Hospital Medical School in 1949. Career She worked as a general practitioner in Sheffield, setting up a Family planning clinic, known as the 408 Clinic, in the city's east end. The clinic attracted controversy as it provided contraception to unmarried women. After moving to Glasgow she worked in the Family Planning Association advising women, particularly those from deprived areas, on sexual health, contraception and abortion. On a visit to Hong Kong, she witnessed the effectiveness of the contraceptive medroxyprogesterone acetate, and on her return to Glasgow, she reviewed the benefits and contraindications of the drug, and began offering it in her clinics. It was likely that it was being used by more women in Glasgow than in any other city in the UK. Wilson retired in 1990 as clinical co-coordinator of the Glasgow Family Planning Service. In her time as family planning physician, her patients welcomed her straightforward approach to discussing sexual health, and the advice and care she provided. After her retirement, Wilson worked for a year in Sierra Leone with Marie Stopes International, providing advice and support on women's sexual health.