Josephine Butler led the Ladies’ National Association for Repeal of the Acts as a way to oppose the Contagious Diseases Act. Her argument was that the Act violated women’s fundamental rights by allowing them to be imprisoned without a verdict by a jury of peers. Opposition on the grounds of discrimination was also very strong, due to the fact that the Act applied only to women and not men. Notable women who went against the act include Mary Carpenter, Elizabeth Blackwell, Harriet Martineau, and Florence Nightingale. 

In 1886 when the act was repealed, it was still widely supported by the British Parliament, despite the fact that it constituted a violation of women’s basic liberties. It was likely only repealed because of growing evidence that it was entirely ineffective in combating the prevalence of venereal diseases–the goal it was put in place to achieve.

Hamilton, Margaret. “Opposition to the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1864-1886.” Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, 1978, pp. 14–27. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/4048453. Accessed 24 Mar. 2024.