margaret sanger

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.

Margaret Sanger The early twentieth century was a turning point in American history-especially in regards to the acquisition of women's rights. While the era was considered to be prosperous and later thought to be a happy-go-lucky time, in actuality, it was a time of grave social conflict and human suffering (Parish, 110). Among those who endured much suffering were women. As Margaret Sanger found out, women, especially those who were poor, had no choice regarding pregnancy.

In the second decade of the twentieth century, the U.S. birth control movement became an important topic among Americans. It was at this time that Margaret Sanger, the eventual founder of Planned Parenthood, became involved in the radical movement for voluntary motherhood and the distribution of contraceptives (Hartmann). As a nurse she assisted poor women in giving birth, and saw the effect of having too many children on the welfare of these women. She also saw the suffering, pain, and death of many women who obtained unsafe, backdoor abortions to escape having more children (Shaw, Lee).

...ople in poverty greatly, by reducing the amount of children born into these areas. For a woman to have the option to terminate or prevent a pregnancy was a major thing. Well known nurse at this time Margaret Sanger noticed how women acted and felt going through the pains of an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy. She attempted to open one of the first clinics in New York, but was shut down 30 days after and put in jail. With this arrest, she gained national support and agreement, just the kind she needed to make another attempt at her dream. This time she was very successful, she founded the American Birth Control League in 1921 and in 1923 she opened The Clinical Research Bureau which was the first legal doctor and staff birth control services. This facility offered a wide range of services for both men and women, as well as offered training to students and doctors.

...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.

Margaret Sanger’s acclaimed speech is highly geared towards white aristocratic modernists of the 1920s, due to its intolerant view towards colored people and its emphasis of Social Darwinism. By artistically combining bigotry and science to convey to the audience that birth control is essentially looking out for the United States, she achieved her conception control stance. Had her speech been delivered in contemporary America, her shameful use of Eugenics would have made her the mockery of American society, as we are slowly progressing towards acceptance of knowledgeable topics through the use of equality and sensibility.

According to the Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics article, “Margaret Sanger”, Jennifer Chesworth stated, “it was not until Margaret Sanger became the leader in the movement in the early nineteenth century to secure reproductive rights for women when the issue of birth control became a big deal” (1). This was the beginning of the first pregnancy prevention movement, where Sanger was the “founder of the first birth control clinic in the United States and later, of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the International Planned Federation” (Chesworth 1). Sanger was born into an extremely devoted Catholic Irish American family, where she tried to escape the strict living conditions of the world she lived in, this is where she joined the Women’s Committee of the New York Socialist Party and participated in labor strikes organized by the Industrial Workers of the World (Chesworth 1). At the time, Sanger was working as a nurse in the Lower East Side of New York City, and because they were all poor families, she focused her attention on sex education and women’s health and reproductive rights. The article stated, “she argued that a woman's right to control her own body was the foundation of her human rights, that limiting family size would liberate working-class women from the economic burdens associated with unwanted pregnancies, and that women are as much entitled to sexual pleasure and fulfillment as men” (Chesworth 2). Meaning that women should be viewed as equal to men, no matter what society believes. This movement was the first attempt to educate both parents and teenagers about the alternative options of pregnancy prevention.

In the 1920s people couldn’t even put out information about birth control, now it is required to be taught to students ages 12 and up. Sometimes putting out the information isn’t enough for society, so they distribute birth control to teenagers without asking for parental consent. But without Margaret’s fight to make birth control available to women we wouldn’t even be able to inform students about it .Margaret Sanger believes birth control should be legalized for married women.

During the 19th century woman were looked down upon and not treated equally. Health was a stressed topic being that woman were by nature considered sickly and incompetent which complimented the men being that they were healthy, forceful, and determined hence the reason why they were the subjects chosen to go out in the competitive world and work while the woman purified the life of a home. Aside from this there were consequences for the unfortunate demands on woman. “Childbearing and child mortality remained two of the most serious issues for woman and their families” . Childbearing was not easy nor was it all that delightful being that they were almost always exhausted both mentally and physically from tough days of labor. Keeping in mind that woman was not treated equally so they were not seen fit to see a Dr. If ill. Death rates on babies increased during this time period as an outcome to a “normal woman” conditions. It was said that these woman were expected and pressed to have close to seven or more children during a lifetime and had to bury one-third to one-half by them by the age of five. This could only have made the lives of woman more unbearable.

American society has come a long way in identifying and defending women’s human rights and humanity. However, women will always be essentially different than men because of their ability to convey with children. We are reminded of this by current political debates concerning abortion and contraception, which some have called a “war on women”. The transformation of gender relations since the beginning of the 20th century is one of the most rapid change in human history. Men had legal powers over the lives of their children and wives. Wife beating was never strictly legal in the Unites States. The ruling of men over women had emerged by the end of the 18th century. The movement for the right