Planned Parenthood Argument Analysis

A mother and daughter sit in the living room together quietly discussing birth control, the mother pulls out a magazine that could send the mother to jail for sharing information on birth control. The mother does not care for the risk of going to jail, but wants to make sure her daughter is protected, this is the life women lived during the 1800s and early 1900s without having public facility for women to discuss women’s reproductive health. Charles Knowlton wrote The Fruits of Philosophy in 1832, the book that featured the ideas of birth control (“Charles Knowlton” ). During the early 1900s, women would go to private practices to have abortions done by untrained midwives and physicians (Regan 70). Margaret Sargent was a woman who knew the

Sanger started the first movements of birth control in 1914-1916, and she fought for the rights of having a safe place for women to go and receive information on birth control (McCann 23) . In march of 1914 Sanger published a magazine to educate women on birth control the magazine was titled The Woman Rebel. The magazine featured the ideas of women's rights and birth control, it normally had a slogan on the front cover that was meant to inspire women. When the magazine was first published the slogan stated, “ No Gods, No Masters” (“Margaret Sanger”). Sanger meant that women should break away from having their religion tie them down and not allow it to control the needed knowledge of birth control. Also, to establish the idea of being their own person and not allowing a man to be the boss of them (“Margaret Sanger”). The first time publishing the magazine Sanger received a warning from the postal office in New York, it basically stated for her to recall the magazine. Sanger respond back to the post office with, “Not going to be suppressed by the post office until it has accomplished the work which it has undertaken” (“Margaret Sanger”). In July 1914 Sanger will be charged with breaking the Comstock act. The Comstock act was established in 1873 and the act enforced that no one is allowed to share or give any information on birth control, and if the person does share information they will be arrested for the crime (“Child Birth”). After receiving the charges Sanger leaves the country, and returns in 1915 to be arrested, only for the charges to be dropped in a couple of months in moving back to the states (“Margaret Sanger”). The first Planned Parent opened in October 1916; Sanger opened the first Planned Parenthood with sisters and friends. When the clinic opened its hired professionals to give advice to women on birth control and also did abortions