After the death of print newspapering, she founded Mousemuse.com.
Where it all began...
Ina Chadwick was 23 years-old juggling the mothering of three babies under three years old, and performing her exemplary housewifery in an upscale Suburban home in Westchester County, New York.
In an effort to be involved in meaningful activities during the bra-burning era of Women’s Liberation and The Women’s March for Peace in Vietnam, Ina volunteered at a clinic in a renowned NYC hospital obstetrics program for Welfare mothers who were mostly women of color and Latinas.
The first intrauterine contraceptive device had recently been given FDA approval. She became an integral part of helping the indigent make informed choices regarding controlling their own bodies with the insertion of the first-ever device, the Lippes Loop.
One afternoon a haggard woman came into the clinic accompanied by a Down Syndrome adolescent girl. She spoke with a serious Irish brogue.
The mother asked the doctor to tell her if her twelve-year-old disabled daughter was pregnant. She was.
“This can’t be,” the mother said, “She’s never alone. Her father is the superintendent of the apartment house where we live. She goes with him everywhere.”
In the mother's slow comprehension of who had to have impregnated the girl, she whispered, “What about that operation?”
Of course, it was illegal then. The doctor shamed her. I followed the mother and cheerful daughter out to the elevator. I gave the mother a piece of a clinic envelope with the name of a reputable abortionist.
Ina's Story Continues...
- Volunteered for the New York Ad Hoc committee for Abortion reform under the umbrella of the Episcopal Diocese of New York City.
- Formed a Westchester, NY Countywide coalition to inundate and storm the State Capital in Albany.
- Designed a poll—pre-personal—computers to challenge local politicians who said they represented their constituents in rejecting Roe V Wade. Her door-to-door data gathering revealed their choices were personal and politically opposite 70 percent of those who had put them in power.
- In October 2021—upon reading the Texas SB 1 decisions criminalizing anyone seeking an abortion plus anyone aiding in the process—she shuddered and set out to create art, theater, and provide information in these frightening times.
On The Payroll
For more than 25 years Ina Chadwick was a top-of-the-masthead newspaper editor, business manager, ombudsman, and publisher, often hired by established print newspapers and trade magazines as a “turnaround” specialist given a strategic mission to evaluate a publication’s editorial and graphic design formats in order to increase readership, circulation, print advertising revenues.
Her earliest entry into journalism was in 1980 when she perceived a need for women’s news, not just lifestyle content. She purchased a failing startup, Fairfield County Woman, using her Mastercard when no bank would give her a business loan. In 1984 Fairfield County Woman went on to pioneer a fully desktop computer-produced newspaper.
Women's Rights –
A Never-Ending Battle
In 1973 when Roe V Wade went into effect, she hugged her daughters too young to understand what freedoms they would now have in their reproductive years.
