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Margaret Sanger's "My Fight for Birth Control
Margaret Sanger's "My Fight for Birth Control
Margaret Sanger's "My Fight for Birth Control
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Recommended: Margaret Sanger's "My Fight for Birth Control
“Free Motherhood,” from Woman and the New Race (1920)
The first primary source I chose was written by Margaret Sanger. Margaret was a white woman that came from a working class family. She also had a very strong background in being an advocate for women's rights to birth control. Sanger even lander herself in jail for giving contraceptives to women. Margaret’s background with birth control might have influenced her writings because she had a first hand experience with the subject. This source is informative and the intended audience is for all women. Knowing that the audience is directed toward woman helps me know what perspective to look at her writing. The document is about woman’s freedom over her body. The document talks about how women
Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence. By Carol Berkin (New York: Vintage Books, 2006). 194 pp. Reviewed by Melissa Velazquez, October 12, 2015.
Dorothy Wardell’s article titled “Margaret Sanger: Birth Control’s Successful Revolutionary” explains what inspired Sanger ideas on contraception and what problems she faced while working to change the notions and laws on Birth Control. The central argument presented by Wardell is that Sanger’s efforts led to privileges for women’s bodies and health centers providing methods for women to act on these privileges (Wardell, 736). Although Wardell is effective in supporting her argument, it would be stronger if she included some historical context and evidence of Sanger’s opinion in her own words found in a speech of hers and in Family Limitation.
On September 14, 1879, Margaret Sanger was born in Corning, New York. She was the sixth child of eleven children and realized early what being part of a large family meant; just making due. Although her family was Roman Catholic both her mother and father were of Irish descent. Her mother, Anne Purcell had a sense of beauty that was expressed through and with flowers. Her father was an Irish born stonemason whose real religion was social radicalism. Her father was a free thinker and strong believer in eugenics which meant Margaret possessed some of the same values. (Sanger, Margaret) Eugenics is the belief that one race is better than a different race just because they are not like them, kind of like Hitler and the holocaust. “He expected me to be grown up at the age of ten.” (Source 4.3 page 30) Coming from a family of eleven children she did have to grow up fast. Faster than most kids should have to. She left her house as a teenager and came back when she needed to study nursing. It was during this time that Margaret worked as a maternity nurse helping in the delivery of babies to immigrant women. She saw illegal abortions, women being overwhelmed by poverty, to many children, and women dying because they had no knowledge of how to prevent one pregnancy after another. This reminded her of the fact that her own mother had eighteen pregnancies, eleven children, and died at the age of forty-nine. Margaret dropped out of school and moved in with her sister. She ended up teaching first grade children and absolutely hated it. She hated children at that time. When Margaret was a child herself however, she would dream about living on the hill where all the wealthy people lived. She would dream of playing tennis and wearing beautiful c...
The 1890s-1920s is what is referred to today as the Progressive Era. This was a time in which many people rose to push their beliefs and create a better future for America. These people called themselves progressives and they would make America the place we know today. They addressed important issues such as women’s rights, working conditions, and temperance. One such reformer was a woman named Mary Harris Jones. Mary Jones, later known as Mother Jones, was one of the most successful and effective progressive reformers of all time due to her experiences, work in labor agitation, and effective speeches.
During the nineteenth century, white women feminist were demanding access to birth control, they wanted to be in control of their reproduction. In this birth control movement, it lacked the participation of women of colored. There was assumption on why women of color didn’t participate: women of color were fighting against racism or weren’t aware of sexism. In reality, women of colored couldn’t associate themselves to the cause because they exhibit sterilization abuse. In the birth control movement, white women were fighting for abortion right, they were fighting for them to have the decision to either keep or abort a child. While, women of color were forced into sterilization without consent. Women of color didn’t support the “Pro-Choice”
Internationally, issues revolving around the female body and reproduction are extremely controversial. For a woman, her body is a very private matter. At the same time, however, a woman's body and her reproduction rights are the center of attention in many public debates. Several questions regarding women's reproductive rights remain unanswered. How much control do women have over their bodies? What kind of rules can be morally imposed upon women? And who controls the bodies of women? Although the public continues to debate these topics, certain conclusions can been made concerning women and their reproductive rights. An undeniable fact is that government has a large degree of control over female reproductive organs. All around the world, time and time again, several national governments have implemented policies, enacted laws, and denied women control over their reproductive organs. Several governments have crossed the border between intimate and public matters concerning women's reproductive organs, by making laws about contraceptives, abortion, and family planning programs.
amongst women with respect to the issue of birth control. According to Davis, a woman. viewpoint on the matter was highly influenced by their socio-economic status. She explains that the cost of having a child is much more of a burden for the women of the labor class due to the lack of financial stability. For these women only the most dangerous forms of birth control are available.
“No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body”. Margaret Sanger stated this quote for the purpose of letting all women know that they should have the choice to make decisions about their own body whenever plausible. She seemed to feel as though, if women can’t obtain control over what they want to do with their body, then they can never truly be free in other manners as well. Sanger is an amazingly determined woman who was able to give all women the chance to gain control and power over their body. Margaret Sanger is an important figure in the 1920s American History because not only did she create and establish the first birth control clinics, but she also gave women the chance to take control over their body.
Birth control pills gave women the right to be in charge of their own conception or lack thereof.
women. The abortion rights movement has since its earliest days argued that poverty is one of the most compelling reasons why women must have...
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.
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.
In the past women did not know a lot about their own body besides that if you are a woman then you were made to bear children. It was not till later on that women really took the initiative to learn about their own bodies. “ For women throughout the centuries, ignorance about our bodies has had one major consequence- pregnancy” (BWHBC 1973 p. 447). For this consequence, sometimes the only option that they felt they had was abortion. The fight for the right to have legal abortions has been going on for decades. This issue has been an issue all over the world not just in the United States of America. Women on the other side of the world from the United States fought for legalizing abortions in the 1970’s. This was mainly in France
The late nineteenth century was a critical time in reshaping the rights of women. Commonly this era is considered to be the beginning of what is know to western feminists as “first-wave feminism.” First-wave feminism predominately fought for legal rights such as suffrage, and property rights. A major hallmark of first-wave feminism is the concept of the “New Woman.” The phrase New Woman described educated, independent, career oriented women who stood in response to the idea of the “Cult of Domesticity,” that is the idea that women are meant to be domestic and submissive (Stevens 27). Though the concept of the New Woman was empowering to many, some women did not want to give up their roles as housewives. These women felt there was a great dignity in the lifestyle of the housewife, and that raising children was not a job to scoff at. Mary Freeman's short story “The Revolt of 'Mother',” tells the story of such a domestic woman, Sarah, who has no interest in leaving her position as mother, but still wishes to have her voice heard in the private sphere of her home. Freeman's “Revolt of Mother,” illustrates an alternative means of resistance for women who rejected the oppression of patriarchy without a withdrawal from the domestic lifestyle.
The first movement for women’s rights was in the 1920’s, when women got the right to vote. That was the first spark in the women’s rights movements. The next movement in women’s rights happened in the 1960’s after WWII. From 1970-1987 pregnancy in America rose 500%. (Mathewes-Green) Women’s rights activist fought for the right of women to be able to make their own choice in pregnancy. In 1821 Connecticut became the first state by law to criminalize abortion. In the early 1900’s abortion in most states was still considered a felony. “By the 1960s, public health officials, medical professionals, and women's advocates were raising awareness of the consequences of illegal abortions, which could result in permanent injury to the woman or even death” (State Abortion Laws). In 1973 the Supreme Court affirmed a woman the right to abortion in the case of Roe vs. Wade. What happened in that case was not just the legalization of abortion, but also a whole new debate started that is still debated till today. Women wanted the right to able to seek and be provided the right to abortion. In cases where rape, incest, and mental illness are in play, women wanted a voice