The Changemakers: The woman who took on the State – and won access to contraception for all

When Customs officials seized the spermicidal jelly mother-of-four May McGee had ordered from the UK on the advice of a doctor, she was livid and took action that led to lasting change, writes Clodagh Finn

May McGee: 'I was livid that somebody in government could tell us how to live our lives. I wasn’t going to back down'

It’s striking to hear May McGee describe how she coped with having four babies in just 23 months, between December 1968 and November 1970. “I used to feed them one, two, three, four,” she says recalling how the little bundles were lined up in the family mobile home at Loughshinny in north county Dublin.

“Four bottles, four nappies,” she says, and then makes four gestures, showing how she turned over each baby to wind it.