{"id":27872,"date":"2025-05-15T18:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T18:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=27872"},"modified":"2025-05-15T19:24:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T19:24:14","slug":"malcolm-potts-evangelist-for-contraception-in-developing-countries-dies-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=27872","title":{"rendered":"Malcolm Potts, Evangelist for Contraception in Developing Countries, Dies at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"
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He helped develop the device most often used for surgical abortions. He also spent more than half a century promoting women\u2019s reproductive health in developing countries.<\/p>\n

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Malcolm Potts, a physician, reproductive scientist and contraceptive evangelist who helped develop and promote the device most frequently used to perform surgical abortions, and who spent more than half a century directing programs that provide reproductive health services to women in developing countries, died on April 25 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 90.<\/p>\n

The cause was Alzheimer\u2019s disease, said his stepdaughter, Madison Iler.<\/p>\n

Although he didn\u2019t identify himself as such, Dr. Potts was essentially a neo-Malthusian. Like Thomas Robert Malthus, the economist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. he saw population control as critical to preventing war, famine and environmental collapse, particularly in Africa, where for decades he oversaw women\u2019s health programs, first as medical director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation<\/a> and then as president of Family Health International<\/a>, another global organization. He felt that women\u2019s ability to control their own reproductive lives was crucial to that aim \u2014 an enormous challenge in the conservative countries he served.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalcolm felt we were heading for catastrophe if we didn\u2019t do a better job in family planning,\u201d said Stefano Bertozzi, a former dean at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, where Dr. Potts held an endowed chair in population and family planning. The two met when they were working on H.I.V. prevention in Africa for different organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a ferocious ally for women having unfettered access to the tools they needed to manage their own fertility,\u201d Dr. Bertozzi said in an interview.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The British-born Dr. Potts was rumpled, tweedy and irreverent. He was of a generation that did not pander to political correctness, and he had a collection of ties printed with condoms. He was also one of Berkeley\u2019s most popular professors. His classes on human sexuality, at which he dispensed policy points, naughty anecdotes and common sense, were filled to overflowing. Dr. Bertozzi called him the Bernie Sanders of Berkeley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dr. Potts, fourth from left, at a commencement ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. One of Berkeley\u2019s most popular professors, he had a collection of ties printed with condoms, and his classes on human sexuality were filled to overflowing.<\/span>via U.C. Berkeley<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He helped develop the device most often used for surgical abortions. He also spent more than half a century promoting women\u2019s reproductive health in developing countries.Malcolm Potts, a physician, reproductive scientist and contraceptive evangelist who helped develop and promote the device most frequently used to perform surgical abortions, and who spent more than half a century directing programs that provide reproductive health services to women in developing countries, died on April 25 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 90.The cause was Alzheimer\u2019s disease, said his stepdaughter, Madison Iler.Although he didn\u2019t identify himself as such, Dr. Potts was essentially a neo-Malthusian. Like Thomas Robert Malthus, the economist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. he saw population control as critical to preventing war, famine and environmental collapse, particularly in Africa, where for decades he oversaw women\u2019s health programs, first as medical director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and then as president of Family Health International, another global organization. He felt that women\u2019s ability to control their own reproductive lives was crucial to that aim \u2014 an enormous challenge in the conservative countries he served.\u201cMalcolm felt we were heading for catastrophe if we didn\u2019t do a better job in family planning,\u201d said Stefano Bertozzi, a former dean at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, where Dr. Potts held an endowed chair in population and family planning. The two met when they were working on H.I.V. prevention in Africa for different organizations.\u201cHe was a ferocious ally for women having unfettered access to the tools they needed to manage their own fertility,\u201d Dr. Bertozzi said in an interview.The British-born Dr. Potts was rumpled, tweedy and irreverent. He was of a generation that did not pander to political correctness, and he had a collection of ties printed with condoms. He was also one of Berkeley\u2019s most popular professors. His classes on human sexuality, at which he dispensed policy points, naughty anecdotes and common sense, were filled to overflowing. Dr. Bertozzi called him the Bernie Sanders of Berkeley.Dr. Potts, fourth from left, at a commencement ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. One of Berkeley\u2019s most popular professors, he had a collection of ties printed with condoms, and his classes on human sexuality were filled to overflowing.via U.C. BerkeleyWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27874,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27872"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27875,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27872\/revisions\/27875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}