May became aware of overpopulation issues in childhood, when she was introduced to the work of Margaret Sanger by her grandmother.Vondas, Jerry, "Philanthropist Cordelia Scaife May dies at 76", Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 27, 2005. By 1952 she began to actively address national population issues. There is a bust of Margaret Sanger in the National Portrait Gallery which was a gift from May."Margaret Sanger", National Portrait Gallery, (accessed August 10, 2018). By 1974, she had resigned from Planned Parenthood, based on her view that family planning was a waste of money in the presence of massive immigration.
