J. P. Donleavy
Novelist, playwright, essayist (1926-2017)
Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She popularized the term “birth control”, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Sanger’s efforts contributed to legalizing contraception in the US, but she has also been criticized for her support of eugenics.
Table of Contents
About the Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She popularized the term “birth control”, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Sanger used her writings and speeches primarily to promote her way of thinking. She was prosecuted for her book Family Limitation under the Comstock Act in 1914. She feared the consequences of her writings, so she fled to Britain until public opinion had quieted. Sanger’s efforts contributed to several judicial cases that helped legalize contraception in the United States. Due to her connection with Planned Parenthood, Sanger is frequently criticized by opponents of abortion. Sanger drew a sharp distinction between birth control and abortion, and was opposed to abortions throughout the bulk of her professional career, declining to participate in them as a nurse. Sanger remains a prominent figure in the American reproductive rights and feminist movements. Sanger has been criticized for supporting eugenics, including negative eugenics. Some historians believe her support of negative eugenics, a popular stance at that time, was a rhetorical tool rather than a personal conviction. In 2020, Planned Parenthood disavowed Sanger, citing her past record with eugenics and racism.
In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S., which led to her arrest for distributing information on contraception, after an undercover policewoman bought a copy of her pamphlet on family planning. Her subsequent trial and appeal generated controversy. Sanger felt that for women to have a more equal footing in society and to lead healthier lives, they needed to be able to determine when to bear children. She also wanted to prevent so-called back-alley abortions, which were common at the time because abortions were illegal in the U.S. She believed that, while abortion may be a viable option in life-threatening situations for the pregnant, it should generally be avoided. She considered contraception the only practical way to avoid them.
In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In New York City, she organized the first birth control clinic to be staffed by all-female doctors, as well as a clinic in Harlem which had an all African-American advisory council, where African-American staff was later added. In 1929, she formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control, which served as the focal point of her lobbying efforts to legalize contraception in the United States. From 1952 to 1959, Sanger served as president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. She died in 1966 and is widely regarded as a founder of the modern birth control movement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse who popularized the term ,birth control, and opened the first birth control clinic in the United States.
Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, established organizations that evolved into Planned Parenthood, and contributed to several judicial cases that helped legalize contraception in the country.
Margaret Sanger has been criticized for supporting eugenics, including negative eugenics, which was a popular stance at the time. Some historians believe her support of eugenics was a rhetorical tool rather than a personal conviction.
In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the US, which led to her arrest for distributing information on contraception. Her subsequent trial and appeal generated significant controversy.
Sanger drew a sharp distinction between birth control and abortion, and she was opposed to abortions throughout most of her career, declining to participate in them as a nurse. She believed that contraception was the only practical way to avoid so-called back-alley abortions.
Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She also formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control to lobby for legalizing contraception in the United States.
Sanger’s efforts contributed to several judicial cases that helped legalize contraception in the United States, and she is widely regarded as a founder of the modern birth control movement. She remains a prominent figure in the American reproductive rights and feminist movements.
14 Quotes by Margaret Sanger
- 1.
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.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 2.
She goes through the vale of death alone, each time a babe is born. As it is the right neither of man nor the state to coerce her into this ordeal, so it is her right to decide whether she will endure it.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 3.
The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 4.
Against the State, against the Church, against the silence of the medical profession, against the whole machinery of dead institutions of the past, the woman of today arises.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 5.
Women of the working class, especially wage workers, should not have more than two children at most. The average working man can support no more and and the average working woman can take care of no more in decent fashion.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 6.
War, famine, poverty and oppression of the workers will continue while woman makes life cheap. They will cease only when she limits her reproductivity and human life is no longer a thing to be wasted.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 7.
A free race cannot be born of slave mothers.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 8.
A mutual and satisfied sexual act is of great benefit to the average woman, the magnetism of it is health giving. When it is not desired on the part of the woman and she gives no response, it should not take place.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 9.
The submission of her body without love or desire is degrading to the woman’s finer sensibility, all the marriage certificates on earth to the contrary notwithstanding.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 10.
Diplomats make it their business to conceal the facts.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 11.
When motherhood becomes the fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident, its children will become the foundation of a new race.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 12.
Woman must have her freedom, the fundamental freedom of choosing whether or not she will be a mother and how many children she will have. Regardless of what man’s attitude may be, that problem is hers – and before it can be his, it is hers alone.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 13.
Dire poverty drives this mother back again to the factory (no intelligent person will say she goes willingly).
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)
- 14.
Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.
Margaret SangerAmerican birth control activist, educator and nurse (1879-1966)