![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
Janet Benshoof, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, in her Manhattan office in 1998.
G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times; thumbnail, The Global Justice Center, 2017
Janet Benshoof
Died on December 18, 2017 at age 70
Ms. Benshoof was a lawyer who spent much of her career defending a woman’s right to an abortion, then expanded her work to champion causes for women around the world, including those raped in war zones.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.