On October 14, 2008, Great Britain issued a set of stamps themed “Women of Distinction”. One of the stamps was dedicated to Marie Stopes (1880 - 1958), a pioneer of family planning. With her husband, Humphrey Verdon Roe, she founded the first birth control clinic in 1921 in London. Stopes was also a supporter of eugenics and an admirer of Hitler, to whom she sent a book of her own poems in 1939. She later turned her back on Hitler, who ordered birth control clinics closed.

The stamp caused controversy in England, as anti-abortion organisations and feminists opposed Stope's stamp tribute. The Marie Stopes Foundation responded that Stopes was controversial dis-cussed, but that her achievements should be recognised. Others pointed out that one must always see a person in the historical context. For the stamp itself, the controversy had no impact.