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Kate Michelman, The Public Face Of a Woman's Right to Privacy

(Andrea Bruce - Staff)

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When she talked of hard things, her soft voice hardened.

Now at a life juncture, Michelman is plotting her next steps. She wants to be a spokeswoman for personal rights who "is not constrained by organizational restraints or party politics."

She hopes to "expand people's understanding of what it means to be pro-choice. And it doesn't mean to be pro-abortion."

She said the right to privacy is a fundamental American value whether it involves a woman's body or governmental wiretapping.

She said she has always been a serious person. As a teenager in Ohio, she listened to news and Senate hearings on a shortwave radio. Her idea of fun, she said, was organizing a Christmas tree sale to benefit Mexican farmworkers in her community.

Asked how she relaxes, she sat forward on the edge of her seat. "I don't!"

But she likes to make food from scratch. "I love cooking, love doing things very authentically."

Ideally, she would like to live in medieval fashion, without many modern conveniences. "I love washing dishes."

And she:

Reads a lot. She has been enjoying a novel by Ian McEwan and a book about the Constitution. "I read every word in every paragraph," she said.

Sleeps little. "If I get two or three hours a night I am lucky," she said.

Exercises every day. "I am disciplined."

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