From History to the Spotlight: Powerstories Theatre Honors At-Home Pregnancy Test Inventor Meg Crane

by Maggie Duffy

Picture it: New Jersey, 1967. Margaret “Meg” Crane is a young product designer at research company Organon Pharmaceuticals, working on its newly launched women’s line. 

On a tour of the company’s main laboratory one day — she and another woman worked in a small house on the grounds — she noticed an “odd-looking contraption” that involved a bunch of test tubes suspended over a reflective metal material. 

She asked what they were, and the answer was pregnancy tests. This sparked the idea that would become revolutionary in women’s reproductive autonomy: the at-home pregnancy test. And Crane would be its inventor. 

Crane and the ensuing events that led to its invention are the subject of Powerstories Theatre‘s production of Jennifer Blackmer’s play, “Predictor,” running July 17-26 in Tampa. 

The play is described as “both an absurdist comic romp, a game show, and a heartfelt exploration of what it means to fight for agency in a world determined to silence you.”

As one would imagine for the era, Crane’s journey to get a home pregnancy test produced was a long one filled with roadblocks. Crane told us about it by telephone ahead of the play’s opening. 

Back in the lab in 1967, it was explained to Crane that those tests were meant for use in doctors’ offices, so that if a woman suspected she was pregnant she could go to her physician for a urine test, which would be sent out and then her doctor would give her the results.  

So when she saw those tubes in the laboratory, she saw the potential to bypass the doctor entirely and make them home tests, as she saw the doctor model as problematic.

“It would take a long time for them to get back a woman to find out that she was indeed pregnant,” she said. “In those days, if a woman wasn't married, she might not have been able to get a doctor to send a sample out and know how friendly the doctor would be toward her.  A woman could not have her own checking account, believe it or not, or could rent a house or have a car without a man's signature.” 

Also, what if the news of the pregnancy reached the husband first? 

Using her design skills, she came up with a prototype using a paper clip holder from her desk, an eye dropper, test tube and a mirror. But when she showed it to an executive, he laughed and told her they would lose their doctor business, and besides, it looked too expensive to produce. 

“I knew I couldn't push it hard,” Crane said. “I knew I had to wait my time to bring it up when it would be acceptable. At least somebody might listen.” 

Somebody did listen: the bosses at Organon’s Dutch parent company in the Netherlands. It took more time, more opposition and more tenacity, but Crane’s home pregnancy test, the Predictor, eventually made it to shelves. (For all the details - go see the show!) 

“I was so obsessed with this, I really thought this had to happen, women need to have this, and I'm a very shy person, normally pretty quiet. I just kept going, and so when the Dutch saw the potential there, I thought, well, they understood a possibility.”

One of Crane's champions was Ira Sturtevant, the lead advertising man the company brought in to market the test. He became the love of her life and they spent their years together also professionally as partners of a marketing company. 

Early on, the company applied for two patents using Crane’s name as the inventor, but made her sign her rights away for a dollar. 

“I was taken aback by all this, but … after considering it all, I agreed, because I really wanted the product to happen, and that's the only way it was going to go forward,” Crane said. 

Crane’s important role in the home pregnancy test was largely obscured for decades. But that changed in 2012, after she saw a New York Times article about the history of home pregnancy tests that left her out. 

Rather than let her legacy be forgotten, Crane auctioned off a prototype of the Predictor, which was acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, which she said attracted attention. 

She contacted the article’s author, Pagan Kennedy, who wrote a story about Crane, which inspired playwright Jennifer Blackmer to write “Predictor.” 

Blackmer reached out to Crane, who spent a lot of time getting to know her, peppering her with questions to build her world in play form.

“I did a lot of writing to go through the whole process with her so she'd have something to work with, and we became great friends,” Crane said. “I'm very, very lucky to have met her.” 

So what was it like to watch a play about herself?

“It took getting over after the first time,” she said, laughing. “Yeah, it's nice.”

“Predictor” runs July 17-26. Crane will be in attendance on July 24-25. Stageworks Theatre, 1120 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. powerstories.com.