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Margaret Sanger's Involvement In The Eugenics Movement

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Despite her involvement in the eugenics movement, Margaret Sanger’s main focus was to advocate for free and unrestricted access to contraceptives to benefit the impoverished citizens of New York.
A desire to limit the number of births was not new during the period from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries. Women would try exotic forms of birth control to prevent and space births as well as control the size of families. Some ways females would try to prevent births were by soaking sponges in vinegar, baking soda, green tea, raspberry leave, or white oak bark and inserting them. Another accepted idea was to sneeze, cough, or squat after sexual relations. At this time, the most used form of birth control was coitus interruptus, withdrawal, …show more content…

Eugenics came from an era where Social Darwinism was used to explain many social inequalities. Social Darwinism was created by Herbert Spencer and was based off of the work by Charles Darwin. Darwinism contains the ideas of survival of the fittest and the capability of an individual to survive in an environment. Spencer took Darwin’s idea and applied it to society, and explained that social inequalities came from the fact that the wealthy are genetically wired to be better off. Eugenicists noticed that government money was being funded towards the poor and degenerates. They didn’t understand this and they believed it was a waste of money because those people were destined to be impoverished. Eugenicists believed sterilization was the solution. Eugenicists believed anyone with the traits of poverty, feeble-mindedness-including manic depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, rebelliousness, criminality, nomadness, and prostitution in their lives should be sterilized. Before WWII, eugenics was very popular in the United States. People such as Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were in support of eugenics. They both supported the sterilization of the feeble minded and insane, but did not support the killing of these people. Once Hitler’s atrocities had been discovered, the eugenics movement had a large decrease in popularity …show more content…

Starting in November of 1912, “What Every Girl Should Know” by Sanger was being published every Sunday in The Call, a commonly read socialist newspaper. Within her articles, Sanger covered puberty and the changes that occurred as a result, the functions of the reproductive system, and the causes and ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. At the time, the Comstock laws were in place which defined contraceptives obscene and made it illegal for information regarding contraceptives to be sent through the U.S Postal Service. For this reason, “What Every Girl Should Know” was no longer allowed to be published, the last article published was blank except for the words “What Every Girl Should Know. NOTHING! By order of the Post Office Department” (qtd. in Lader 37). Refusing to give up, Sanger prepared herself to fight the Comstock Laws and provide the women and girls of New York with information about contraceptives and their bodies. From 1913 to 1914, Sanger travelled to Paris. At this time in Europe, contraceptives were much more accepted and information was plentiful. Sanger spent her days researching and gathered a collection of information on the best and latest douches, sponges, suppositories, and pessaries. She also bought some of the devices to bring back with her to the United States. Having gathered enough research, Sanger headed back to the United States. In

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