Betty Cockrum

(Mar. 25, 1953-May 17, 2020). Born in Wolcottville, Indiana, to Moyne and Hyacinth Fuller, Betty Lou Fuller Cockrum attended Ball State University after graduating from high school and earned a bachelor’s degree from IUPUI. Early in her career, Cockrum worked for the City of Bloomington in its Redevelopment Department and as its controller. In 1997, Indiana governor Frank O’Bannon tapped her to be the commissioner of the Department of Administration. She also served as the state budget director.

Cockrum is best known as a champion of women’s reproductive rights who led Planned Parenthood for 15 years—starting as CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Indiana in 2002. Under her tenure, the organization went through many mergers to become Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky in 2013.

Cockrum fought tirelessly to make affordable, expert reproductive health care available to all women regardless of income or zip code. She persistently pushed for initiatives to make emergency contraceptives available over the counter, to ensure people in Indiana and Kentucky could use Medicaid for reproductive health services, and to expand beyond abstinence sex education.

During Cockrum’s tenure as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Indiana, reproductive health issues became more politicized. She fought ferociously against anti-choice legislators in Indiana who approved waves of anti-abortion legislation that pulled federal and state funding from health centers and instituted stricter requirements for abortion clinics and doctors. Cockrum led Planned Parenthood through many legal battles suing the state of Indiana five times, twice successfully to protect abortion rights and heighten the visibility of the need for access to reproductive health care. She retired from the organization in 2017.

During her career and retirement, she devoted time to humanitarian causes such as Hoosier Women Forward, Indiana Recycling Coalition, Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission, Domestic Violence Coalition, and the Indianapolis Arts Center.

Help improve this entry

Contribute information, offer corrections, suggest images.

You can also recommend new entries related to this topic.