Margaret Sanger

1029 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Birth control movement essay

Margaret Sanger, born September 14, 1879, was a women’s rights activist who led the birth control movement and dedicated her life to fighting for access to sexual health information for women. The impact of her work can still be felt today as reproductive health is no longer a forbidden topic and access to birth control or other contraceptives is mainstream. Sanger fought for women to have access to sexual health information so they could properly educated themselves about the control they have over their own bodies. In order to understand where the world is now with sexual health, it is important to understand the world in which Sanger started her work.
Sanger came into age during a time where the Comstock Act of 1873 was in full effect. The Comstock Act was a federal statute that criminalized contraception and the distribution of information regarding sexual health. Her commitment to fighting these laws came from personal tragedy. Her mother died at age 40 of tuberculosis, which was hastened by the strain of giving birth to eleven children and having seven miscarriages. She was determined to not repeat her mother’s fate. Influence from her childhood traumas can be seen throughout her writings. In her article titled What Every Girl Should Know in 1915, Sanger wrote that women must come to “recognize there is some function of womanhood other than being a child-bearing machine.” She sought to create equality between men and women by freeing women from what she understood as “sexual servitude.”
Sanger attended Calverack College in New York and studied to be a nurse. Working in hospitals gave her an intimate view of the women whose lives were similar to that of her mother’s. She saw many women who had suffered botched abortions an...

... middle of paper ...

... become a reality until she met physician Gregory Pincus in 1951. Pincus, a medical expert in human reproduction, was willing to take on this project with her to find a safe, effective, female-controlled contraceptive. They collaborated with their sponsor, Katharine McCormick, to create Enovid, the first oral contraceptive that was invented and approved by the FDA in 1960.
Sanger died in September of 1966, but lived to see the realization of her “magic pill” as well as the undoing of the Comstock Laws. In 1965, Griswold vs. Connecticut, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the private use of contraceptives was a constitutional right. Sanger left behind the legacy of her birth control league, which changed its name to the Planned Parenthood Association in 1942, as well as two autobiographies, My Fight For Birth Control and Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Birth Control's Successful Revolutionary, By Dorothy Wardell

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wardell begins by addressing that “…a definitive biography and assessment has yet to be written.”, but she then continues to write the article giving an overview of Sanger’s “…vigorous and highly unorthodox life”. The article gives insight onto what inspired Sanger’s cause; being the child of a mother who had 18 pregnancies and receiving a call of help from a woman by the name of Sadie Sachs who attempted

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger Eugenics

    2949 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...still a vital part of world today. Planned Parenthood is not segregated to color or affluence and has definitely changed the world as we know it today. Margaret Sanger though a determined selfish women did not get everything the way she wanted it to be. She hung up fliers in immigrant neighborhoods just so the poor or colored would go to the clinic. She wanted these people to go to the birth control clinics so they couldn’t reproduce. Margaret believed that if you couldn’t support the family you already have you shouldn’t have more children and she was a strong believer that the inferior race should not be able to reproduce. All of Mrs. Sanger’s actions said more then what her voice said. Margaret Sanger was a powerful strong woman who was celebrated as an advocate of women’s rights; however her motives were for all the wrong reasons.

    Read More

  • Birthcontrol and the Work Of Margaret Sanger

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    "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 identity in society and a chance to work without fearing they were contributing to the moral decline of society by leaving children at home. If birth control and Sanger did so much good to change the role of women in society why was birth control so controversial?

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger Analysis

    373 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sanger was the oldest child of a numerous family. She had to watch the helplessness of her own mother who continued to have children without any Control and thus dying as a result. This affected Sanger and it help shape her fight against the lack of access and information.

    Read More

  • The Roaring Twenties with Women's New Right to Sexuality

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both sources approach an issue from a different demographic, the married young housewife and the of age generation in the roaring twenties respectively. If we compare intent, we see Sanger's is a politically motivated piece seeking empathy compared to what appears to be a balanced study from New Girls for Old. Therefore the more representative source is that of the uninfluenced survey, while we can't discount that they are selectively chosen; in comparison to Sanger's selected testimonials are likely the most pressing and emotive letters written to her. This contrasting factor of intent also leads to their influence varying, as Engelman presents it was Sanger's pivotal activist role that when combined with the radicals, socialites and professionals that led to the successive progress of the birth control movement as one of the few women led social movements i...

    Read More

  • Griswold vs. Connecticut

    1819 Words  | 4 Pages

    On June 7th 1965, married couples in the State of Connecticut received the right to acquire and benefit from contraceptive devises. In a majority decision by the United States Supreme Court, seven out of the nine judges believed that sections 53-32 and 54-196 of the General Statues of Connecticut , violated the right of privacy guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The case set precedence by establishing marital (and later constitutional) privacy, and had notable influence on three later controversial ruling=s in Roe v. Wade (1973), Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and Planned Parenthood of S.E. Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) . The issue at hand was, and is still, one that still causes debate, wether a state has the authority to restrict the use and sale of contraceptives. Though it is not contraceptives, anymore, that is at the heart of the abortion debate, this ruling was the first step to the expectation of constitutional privacy.

    Read More

  • Progressive Era Dbq

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    Margaret Sanger’s monthly publication The Woman Rebel released its first issue in 1914, creating a nationwide dispute concerning the publication and distribution of birth control devices. However, Sanger’s initial goal went beyond simply legalizing the distribution of contraceptives; her aim was to create “radical social change, embracing the liberation of women and of the working class” (6, 1.120). In document one, the essay “Why the Woman Rebel?” Sanger makes a strong political statement on the social implications of legalizing birth control. Drawing heavily from the plight of the working class Sanger makes her case on the grounds that the legalization of birth control is the first step to the liberation of the disenfranchised working class at the hands of capitalism. The essay is a rebellious prose intended to inspire “revolt”, a call to arms for the case for birth control. Later in Sanger’s care...

    Read More

  • Aborted Aspirations in Pat Barker's Regeneration

    1888 Words  | 4 Pages

    As men engaged in war overseas, women gained many opportunities in their every day life. New employment opportunities became attainable to women. In women's health, many new medical practices were conventionalized as well. One of the most pivotal medical advancements of the time was the commercialization of birth control ("Marie Stopes"). However, n...

    Read More

  • Essay On Birth Control Pills

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sanger, one of the pioneers of modern birth control, founded Planned Parenthood which was an

    Read More

  • The Reproductive Right Debate

    2552 Words  | 6 Pages

    No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Sanger's Speech

    417 Words  | 1 Pages

    Margaret Sanger, a well known feminist and women's reproductive right activist in USA history wrote the famous speech: The Children's Era. This speech focuses on the topic of women's reproductive freedom. Sanger uses rhetorical forms of communication to persuade and modify the perspectives of the audience through the use of analogy and pathos. She uses reason, thought and emotion to lead her speech.

    Read More

  • History Of Birth Control

    467 Words  | 1 Pages

    During the early 1900s, American nurse Margaret Sanger led the birth-control movement in the United States. She and others opened clinics to provide women with information and devices. Although frequently jailed, she and her followers were instrumental in getting laws changed. In subsequent years, laws against birth control gradually weakened, and more effective methods were developed.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Strategies Used in The Morality of Birth Control Speech by Margaret Sanger

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 where Sanger presented this speech, November 1921, women were considered very far from equal and much closer to servants or maids. In her speech, I saw that ethos was present in the sense that she gave herself credibility. Through Sanger’s detailed words and actions, and her statements including the presence of scientists and, or, professionals, the masses of listening people could infer that she was very well informed and solid in her statements. Though she presented herself as agreeable, Sanger was firm in her beliefs. In addition, Sanger says, “We desire to stop at its source the disease, poverty and feeble-mindedness and insanity which exist today, for these lower the standards of civilization and make for race deterioration. We know that the masses of people are growing wiser and are using their own minds to decide their individual conduct” (Sanger, par.15). To me, Sanger made herself appeal to the audience by using the word ‘we.’ In the practice of ethos, this focused on the author more than...

    Read More

  • Margaret Sanger's The Morality Of Birth Control

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Roaring Twenties were known as a time of economic boom, pop culture and social developments. This was a time when women began to break norms, they acted rebelliously such as wearing releveling clothing, smoking, and drinking. These women were known as “flappers” who wanted to change their roles in the 1920’s. Birth control activist, Margaret Sanger sought to change the world where women had access to a low cost, effective contraception pill. In “The Morality of Birth Control” Sanger battled opponents who claimed that contraception would cause women to become immoral. The author uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and fallacies to back up her claim while touching on issues in the church, advancements of women, and the source of disease in the world.

    Read More

  • Margaret Walker

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1942, Margaret Walker won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award for her poem For My People. This accomplishment heralded the beginning of Margaret Walker’s literary career which spanned from the brink of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s to the cusp of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s (Gates and McKay 1619). Through her fiction and poetry, Walker became a prominent voice in the African-American community. Her writing, especially her signature novel, Jubilee, exposes her readers to the plight of her race by accounting the struggles of African Americans from the pre-Civil War period to the present and ultimately keeps this awareness relevant to contemporary American society.

    Read More

More about Margaret Sanger

Open Document