{"id":1016,"date":"2020-05-26T18:31:44","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T18:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/2020-celebration\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2025-08-04T12:40:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T16:40:02","slug":"louise-slaughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/louise-slaughter\/","title":{"rendered":"Louise Slaughter (1929\u20132018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

American politician representing upstate New York in the United States House of Representatives for 16 consecutive terms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Illustrated
Illustrated by Michael Osadciw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Louise Slaughter delivered on her promise \u201cto give voice to the voiceless\u201d on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

Slaughter served her country, the state of New York, and the city of Rochester as a Democrat from Rochester’s 25th District. She held her position in the House of Representatives for 16 consecutive terms\u2014more than\u00a030 years\u2014until her death in 2018 at the age of 88.<\/p>\n

Born Dorothy Louise McIntosh, she was the daughter of a blacksmith in the heart of Kentucky coal country. Her distinct Kentucky drawl would become instantly recognizable to the Rochester community.<\/p>\n

Slaughter earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in microbiology and a master\u2019s in public health from the University of Kentucky. Her in-depth knowledge of science and health care would shape Slaughter\u2019s political agenda for decades to come. Specifically, it gave rise to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, a measure that paved the way for a potential sea change in medical science and human understanding.<\/p>\n

“In addition to everything else we\u2019ve learned through genetics is that we are, all of us, 99.99% the same. If we don\u2019t come up with anything else in this world, we must all know that, make everyone understand that, and with that understanding, we might have a better society to live in.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Louise Slaughter<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Slaughter began her political career in Fairport, a suburb of Rochester. She was a stay-at-home mom for some time, raising three daughters. However, Slaughter said she \u201ccame out of the kitchen\u201d in 1971 to cofound the Perinton Greenlands Association. This organization was aimed at preserving open spaces in the Perinton community. Although their efforts failed to save Hart\u2019s Woods from development, Slaughter did not give up.<\/p>\n

Invigorated by the pursuit for justice, Slaughter went on to serve in the Monroe County Legislature and the New York State Assembly. She worked for several years as regional coordinator for the secretary of state, and, later, for Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo.<\/p>\n

In 1986, Slaughter won a seat in the House of Representatives. She became a powerful advocate for many critical issues, including women\u2019s health, reproductive rights, medical research, genetic testing, and environmental conservation.<\/p>\n

As leader of the Congressional Women\u2019s Caucus and cochairwoman of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, Slaughter advocated for family planning, biomedical research, and technological developments. While serving on the House Budget Committee, she succeeded in funding breast cancer research at a time when all medical research at the National Institutes of Health was reserved for white males alone.<\/p>\n

Slaughter likewise established the Office of Research on Women\u2019s Health and coauthored the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, thereby ensuring the inclusion of women and minorities in all federal clinical trials. A decade later, the National Institutes of Health honored Slaughter as a Visionary for Women\u2019s Health Research.<\/p>\n

“Our girls have learned that sweat is sexy, brawn is beautiful, and a little dirt never hurt anyone.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Louise Slaughter<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition, Slaughter supported Rochester’s National Endowment for both the arts and the humanities. As cochair of the Congressional Arts Caucus, Slaughter fought to maintain funding for these agencies throughout her career. In this and in many ways, Slaughter showed her support for the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ and the educational community at large.<\/p>\n

The University acknowledged Louise Slaughter\u2019s accomplishments with both the Presidential Proclamation in 2014 and the Eastman Medal in 2009. We are forever grateful for the leadership she provided. Her legacy continues to inspire new generations of women hoping to serve their communities.<\/p>\n

Awards and Honors<\/strong><\/h5>\n
    \n
  • The Science Coalition, Champion of Science Award<\/li>\n
  • Foremother Award from National Center for Health Research<\/li>\n
  • Rochester’s train station named in honor of Louise Slaughter<\/li>\n
  • Women’s Hall of Fame inductee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    An American politician representing Upstate New York in the United States House of Representatives for 16 consecutive terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":5346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41682],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebration-2020"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLouise Slaughter (1929\u20132018) - News Center - Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Biography of Louise Slaughter, a politician representing Rochester and upstate New York in the House of Representatives for 16 consecutive terms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/louise-slaughter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Louise Slaughter (1929\u20132018) - 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