Harriet Fleischl Pilpel; Promoted Civil Liberties, Women’s Rights

Harriet Fleischl Pilpel, 79, a lawyer who made a career out of fighting for civil liberties and women’s rights. Her life was devoted to pushing and protecting the legal limits of free speech and equal protection under the law. She lectured extensively on birth control, abortion and the status of women. In the 1960s, she was a member of the Kennedy and Johnson Commissions on the Status of Women. In the 1970s, she was chairwoman of the Law Panel International of Planned Parenthood Federation. Pilpel also was a consultant to the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor and general counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union. At her death, she was first vice chairwoman of the National Advisory Council of the American Civil Liberties Union. In New York City on Tuesday of a heart attack.