Women and Family Planning

Today, the availability of birth control is taken for granted. There was a time, not long passed, during which the subject was illegal (“Margaret Sanger,” 2013, p.1). That did not stop the resilient leader of the birth control movement. Margaret Sanger was a nurse and women’s activist. While working as a nurse, Sanger treated many women who had suffered from unsafe abortions or tried to self-induce abortion (p.1). Seeing this devastation and noting that it was mainly low income women suffering from these problems, she was inspired to dedicate her life to educating women on family planning—even though the discussion of which was highly illegal at the time (p.1). She was often in trouble with

Relevance Statement: According to the CDC, 62% of women of reproductive age are currently using a contraceptive. This number has drastically risen over the years as a result of advanced medicine and availability to all women. This would not have been possible without the work and dedication of Margaret Sanger.

In the mid-1800s American women united to participate in social reforms movements more than ever before. This movement’s involved: struggle to abolish slavery, outlaw alcohol, and ban child labor among others (Rupp, 1987). Despite the failure of the women's movement to attain one among its primary goals, the passage of the ERA , the movement overall accomplished an excellent deal. For several women activists, management over their bodies was a central issue in the campaign. Women needed to be liberated to explore and control their gender, while not being judged by society. An oversized a part of management during this arena concerned having access to birth control, or contraception ways (Fishman, 1998). The contraception pill, associate inoculant,

In 1917, Margaret Sanger was arrested for distributing contraception pessirie to a immigrant women. Margaret Sanger, was a nurse, mother, sex educator, writer and most importantly an activist. Sanger, fought for women’s rights which one of the main one was to legalize birth control in America. During the process of fighting Sanger establish the American Birth Control League, now called Planned Parenthood. Sanger fund money to Grisworld the created of the hormonal birth control pill the dream of Sanger. Sanger, “wanted to have it all, and was birth control as the necessary condition for the resolution of their often conflicting needs.” (Chesler 25). Birth control has always been a colossal issue since it was invention in the 1960s by Griswold and has remained and extraordinarily controversial topic since. Therefore, if teenagers get their parent’s consent for birth control, teens will still manage to get their way and have sex, parent will think they are unhealthy, and last some parent would want their female teenager conserve until marriage. Meanwhile, if they do not get the parental consent, teenage will be encouraged to be more sexually active, female teenage will know they are safe on not getting pregnant, and it will encourage female be promiscuous.

Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement highlighted a variety of important issues. These issues include women’s right to make decisions privately versus the right of a community to regulate moral behavior; the ethnic demographics of the American people; the ability of women to control their own physical destinies by limiting family size; and the idea that small families were the way to keep the American dream alive. The debate over birth control spoke to personal and political issues, which poses the question: Was birth control merely a matter of individual choice, or was it about power, wealth, opportunity and similar issues? Birth control was not merely a technique to expand the realm of personal freedom; it grew out of a radical

The Birth Control Movement of 1912 in the United States had a significant impact on Women’s Reproductive Rights. Women in the 1800s would frequently die or have complications during or after childbirth. Even if the woman would have died, they would still have a great amount of children. As the years progressed into the 1900s, the amount of children being born dropped. Because of this, birth control supplements were banned, forcing women to have a child that she was not prepared for or did not want to have in the first place.

Public discussions of birth control were criminalized under the Comstock Act of 1873 because people believed it was immoral. Margaret Sanger, who had opened the first birth control clinic in 1916 despite the Comstock Act of 1873, was a feminist and advocate. After serving prison time, Sanger returned publicly and illegally with drive to present a strong argument that defended the moral use of birth control. Prior to her morally controversial 1921 speech, Sanger was arrested in New York for her intent to advocate public knowledge pertaining to birth control. Although the ethical nature of using birth control is still controversial in America, Margaret Sanger’s 1921 speech “A Moral Necessity for Birth Control” was undoubtedly a catalyst for

Margaret Sanger founded a movement in this country that would institute such a change in the course of our biological history that it is still debated today. Described by some as a "radiant rebel", Sanger pioneered the birth control movement in the United States at a time when Victorian hypocrisy and oppression through moral standards were at their highest. Working her way up from a nurse in New York's poor Lower East Side to the head of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Margaret Sanger was unwavering in her dedication to the movement that would eventually result in lower infant mortality rates and better living conditions for the impoverished. But, because of the way that her political

"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

     Although she had met her goal of legalizing birth control, Margaret Sanger still desired to assist women who were already pregnant but didn’t wish to keep the child. After returning from a national tour in 1916, Sanger opened the nation's first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn (Katz 1). This, however, was a minor advancement considering that the clinic was raided in its first nine days of operation and she was taken to prison. The

Sanger’s movement to push for birth control caused her to be closely watched by the law enforcement. She repeatedly sent informative brochures about contraceptives out to the public and opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn; it impudently went against Comstock Act and several other laws. In 1920 Sangers methods became less extensive and that same year she founded the American Birth Control League, now known as Planned Parenthood. This was one of the biggest milestones in her career as a feminist. In 1925 she gave her memorable speech “The Children’s Era” at the first birth control conference. When she delivered the speech she

Margaret Sanger was a crusader who took a stand against the Comstock Law through civil disobedience in order to legalize and create efficient contraceptives for women in the 1930’s. Sanger advocated for women's reproductive rights by taking a stand against the unjust laws by pursuing the court case, United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries. Sanger and her assistant, Dr. Hannah Stone committed an act of civil disobedience by importing contraceptives overseas. Sanger and Stone’s significant stand ultimately legalized birth control due to the fact that the government could not cease the usage of birth control if it was prescribed by a doctor. Furthermore, it became possible for doctors to prescribe birth control to their patients, effectively

In order to break free from the shackles of predestined breeding, Sanger suggests that women “assert their right to voluntary motherhood.” Through thinking on their own, women can be in command of their own bodies and in turn determine how to live their lives. While this may seem absurd to a modern mind, this was truly innovative and dangerous for Sanger to suggest. She was challenging traditions that dated back hundreds of years. “Even as birth control is the means by

Gender roles were sharply defined in the 19th century. Women were expected to stay at home and carry out the domestic duties as well as taking care of the children and educate them and provide a peaceful home for their husband. Women were seen as loving and caring. On the other hand, men were expected to work and earn money for the family. They would fight wars and were seen as strong and powerful. Men had more freedom and rights, such as the right to vote, than women in the 19th century. Society had created two completely separate spheres. In the medical field, men were doctors. There were laws in many states, such as, that prohibited women from becoming doctors. Women, who decided to practice medicine in the 19th century had to struggle with much opposition because it went against prevailing ideas about women’s role in society. Women belonged in the private and domestic sphere. Men belonged to competitive and immoral public sphere of industry and commerce. The women in medicine would face accusations that they were abandoning their sphere and threatening society. Due to these arguments and the fear of economic competition from female practitioner, male medical schools and hospitals denied women access to institutions. However, Elizabeth Blackwell, changed this idea of separate spheres when she decided to take on the medical field and become a doctor. Although Elizabeth Black had a natural aversion to the medical field, her

Population control, as a concept, can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome when Aristotle claimed that a fluctuating population would cause poverty. Greek city-states, wanting to neither grow nor decline in population, practiced forms of fertility inhibition and infanticide with the hopes of keeping the population stable to a certain number of persons to prevent this catastrophe. Rome, on the other hand, under rule of Augustus, enacted laws that punished both celibacy and adultery while rewarding couples who produced offspring. As Christianity spread through the Roman Empire and beyond, it was in the medieval era that religion intertwined with population theories, and the current religious ideologies of marriage being a sacrament with the intent to procreate came to realization.