The Birth Control Of Margaret Sanger

Thesis: Margaret Sanger changed the world by rallying for the availability and use of contraceptives for all women.

Margaret Sanger was, at large, a birth control activist, but this speech was more about the questioning of birth control corrupting morality in women. People must remember, in the day and age

"A free race cannot be born" and no woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother"(Sanger A 35). Margaret Sanger (1870-1966)said this in one of her many controversial papers. The name of Margaret Sanger and the issue of birth control have virtually become synonymous. Birth control and the work of Sanger have done a great deal to change the role of woman in society, relationships between men and woman, and the family. The development and spread of knowledge of birth control gave women sexual freedom for the first time, gave them an individual

Nearly 70 years ago, one woman pioneered one of the most radical and transforming political movements of the century. Through the life that she led and the lessons she taught us, many know her as the “one girl revolution”. Though Margaret Sanger's revolution may be even more controversial now than during her 50-year career of national and international battles, her opinions can teach us many lessons. Due to her strong influence in history, our society has increased health awareness for women, made sexual protection a choice for all people, and also introduced family modification as a choice for mankind.

Margaret Sanger’s Goals and Objectives in Creating Social Change for Women’s Reproductive Freedom Margaret devoted her life’s work to create social change by fighting to make contraceptives and sexual education universally available to women. Sanger actively participated in movement to challenge the Comstock Law, which was a U.S. Federal Law that made it illegal to send “obscene” materials in the mail. Contraception was termed an obscene material (biography.com, 2014) of the time.  How Margaret Sanger Ignited the Movement for Women’s Reproductive Freedom : 

Margaret Louise Higgins, who later became Margaret Higgins Sange, was born on September 14, 1879 In Corning, New York. She was a birth control activist,nurse, and sex educator. Margaret’s parents were Michael Hennessey Higgins, an Irish stonemason and Anna Purcell a catholic Irish-American. Margaret’s mother Anne and her family immigrated to canada when she was young. Margaret’s father Michael moved to America and enlisted into the US army during the Civil War at the age of15. Margaret’s father was also a catholic turned atheist and also an activist for woman’s suffrage. Anne Higgins went through 18 pregnancies and only 11 of her children were born alive. Margaret was the sixth child of eleven. She spent a lot of her childhood years helping with household chores and also had the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings.

Margaret Sanger is one of the top ten most influential women in united states history for her role as an American Birth Control Activist. Margaret fought adamantly for women’s rights throughout her life, becoming the first to open a Birth Control Clinic in the U.S.

Although societies with rigorous rules such as the ancient Greeks practiced the use of birth control and the invention of modern contraceptive methods---such as condoms, diaphragms, and douches---have been around since the early 1800’s, birth control still did not prevail in the twentieth century and was highly controversial. Margaret Sanger gave people a new and radical ideology stating how birth control helped women in many more ways than their sexuality. Sanger published many literature pieces about her opinions on options and freedom for women in society. Several other women and doctors acknowledged her argument by broadcasting it during the Progressive Era. When the 1920’s came around,

Margaret Sanger, an active reproductive rights reformist and the mother of what we now know to be Planned Parenthood, grew up the sixth child of eleven in an Irish-American family in New York. Sanger witnessed her mother go through multiple miscarriages, leaving her concerned for her mother’s health. She later studied nursing at a variety of colleges. Sanger moved to New York City in the early twentieth century, taking her husband, William Sanger, and three children with her. Radical politics were growing popular in the area where they lived, changing the young couple’s mindset. Sanger later got involved in the Women’s Committee of the New York Socialist Party and Liberal Club.

Margaret Sanger was born on September 14th, 1879 to Anne Purcell Higgins and Michael Hennessy Higgins. Anne Higgins had been pregnant 18 times but had only given birth to 11 children, She was a devout Roman Catholic. She died a tragic death of tuberculosis when she was just 50 years old. Although many people attribute Margaret Sanger’s support of birth control to her mother’s many unwanted pregnancies, Margaret Sanger was largely influenced by her father, Michael Higgins. He was an activist for women’s suffrage. he believed women deserved to have more than just child-rearing and housekeeping in their lives. He was a freethinking atheist who strongly supported free public education. He earned his living carving marble. Margaret heard these beliefs growing up and they inspired her to change a woman’s place in the world.

Margret Sanger emphasized to America on the need for birth control and how it could help America. Having birth control would save many of woman from unorthodox methods of abortions. Having birth control would save people from the burden of bringing a child into a life that they couldn’t afford to raise. Although her thought challenged many views of American standard Margaret Sanger helped change and save many

After her mother passed away, in 1910, Margaret Sanger and her family moved to New York where she got a job as a nurse for immigrants. While working as a nurse, Sanger noticed that poor working class families had more children than they could afford. She saw families trapped into poverty due to the high number of children and low income to support them. She witnessed different diseases and mishandled abortions. Women were sick and left without help by repeated pregnancies. One case that caught her attention the most was a lady who died from an illegal abortion because her doctor refused to give her birth control. She also witnessed the difference in treatment parents offer to the wanted and unwanted children. Therefore, Margaret Sanger realized

Upon becoming a nurse she took care of many poor families in the urban overcrowded streets of families that lived in New York. One particular case she always told was the story of Sadie Sachs which influenced her to really do something about women’s rights and control over their own bodies. That influenced me to pick her to write and research about her. As the story went Sanger said, “Sadie had developed an infection from an illegal abortion and begged Sanger and the doctor to tell her how to prevent another child, thinking it would kill her. The doctor scoffed at her remark and promptly left, leaving Sachs with Sanger. She begged for her to tell her a way to prevent conception, but Sanger could not tell her anything, as it was illegal,” (Katzive, 2015, p. 128). She felt enraged by how she couldn’t simply help a women in need of wanting to learn how to prevent herself from having any more children. After the incident she met her future husband, William Sanger and together they had three children. Not only did William give Margaret the gift of children and a family, but also gave her the opportunity to finally share her knowledge of the topic pertaining to women and the use of contraception. Since William belonged the Socialist Party, Sanger became affiliated with The New York Call. This was a socialist newspaper where not only did she write a column on birth control, but later she got an opportunity to create her own newspaper which was called The Woman Rebel.

Margaret Sanger was born on September 14, 1879. Her mother had died at an early age of what Sanger considered to be from an excess in pregnancies. Later she became a nurse and realized that large families and poverty went hand in hand (Sanger 5). She came to the conclusion that if women would stop having so many children—of which many were unwanted, they would have more money to provide for their families. However, due to unfortunate circumstances, it would not be that simple.

Women all around the world have been battling with being equal in society. From the start their rights in the workplace were thought unfit. Then establishing rights over their choices and bodies were taken into account. Not having children in society during that time was considered unheard of or wrong. The thought of stopping pregnancy, which everyone considered a customary act, should never happen. Birth control is a choice that women should not have to part from just because somebody deems it necessary. Women have the right to choose their own path in regards to marriage, children, and birth control. They need a voice when everyone is trying to silence them and Margaret Sanger was that voice.