SM: So, what can pro-choice individuals do to protect the right to safe and legal abortions?
Gloria Allred: First of all, join organizations that are working to protect a woman’s right to choice, like the National Abortion Rights Action League [and] the National Organization for Women. Also, make [your] views known to elected officials and only vote for people who are pro-choice. We have to be really tough about this, because if we’re willing to vote for anti-choice candidates then they’re going to vote against us when it comes to the choice issue. We [also] have to get very actively involved in the next presidential campaign.

After years of teaching in public schools in both Philadelphia and Los Angeles, the single mother finally pursued her dream of fighting for justice. At the age of thirty, she entered Southwestern University School of Law and eventually transferred to Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles where she became friendly with fellow students Michael Maroko and Nathan Goldberg—the two men who would eventually become her partners in the law practice of Allred, Maroko & Goldberg.

SM: What is your advice to single mothers, in regards to making and maintaining a successful career while being a successful mother?
Gloria Allred: You can do it all, but you have to have help. As a single mom, you have the responsibilities, [but] you may not have all the rights you wish to have, so [you must] get involved in helping to win rights. For example, a lot of women are working two or three jobs trying to support their family [because] they can’t get their child support. They should do everything possible to get that child support because that is owed to their children. It is important not to just let that go.