Birth control was a controversial topic in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th century. Before birth control, every contraceptive was mainly for the man, like the condom, which was made legal in 1918 in the United States. It helped progressive women gain their rights in the United States. It also created the beginning of looking at women as a human.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_sanger.html
People like Margaret Sanger, a very active feminist during this time period, wanted that to change. She believed that the women should have control of their bodies and have a say in whether or not to use protection. She said, "No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother." She created Birth control to not only help herself, but help women who were becoming incredibly ill from giving their own abortions. Multiple women died yearly giving 'at home' abortions. Margaret helped a lot of these women in her clinic.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_sanger.html
Margaret Sanger wanted women to have control of their bodies. Sanger, a member of the Women's Committee of the New York Socialist Party and the Liberal Club, worked her whole life to legalize birth control. She founded the term ‘birth control’ and opened the first birth control clinic. Although, it didn’t start out that easy for her. While opening her feminist newsletter, The Woman Rebel, the Comstock Act was created. It prohibited publishing “obscene and immoral materials”. Sanger was up to face 5 years in jail, and instead of staying in the U.S., she fled to England.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_sanger.html
When she returned to the U.S., she established the American Birth Control League, which was the precursor to Planned Parenthood today. As more immigrants came into the united states, people like Sanger wanted to control the population. The US was becoming a bigger country, and each family had an average of 4 kids per family. Sanger wanted to ‘control the population’. She also wanted to end the African American Population.
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Margaret Sanger, and one of the reasons she was such an activist for birth control, was trying to end the African American population in the United States. Ben Carson even brought it up in a debate today about Planned Parenthood, and why he was against it. It’s interesting to think that something from almost a decade ago is still talked about and affected today. She said, "I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world -- that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_sanger.html
Margaret Sanger did help progress Women's rights, and gave the women an option to control their own body. However, she was very racist, and wanted to use this wonderful invention for bad. Birth control is now widely used in the United States and globally. She was very helpful in showing the light to start Women’s rights.
