BIRTHDAY:
Sept. 14, 1883
ABOUT HER
For several years as a nurse Margaret Sanger watched first-hand the
enormous health hazards of unwanted pregnancies. In 1916 she opened
a birth control clinic with her sister, Ethel Byrne. It was closed down
in 10 days and the sisters were arrested, but not before more than 500
women had been seen at the clinic, thereby demonstrating the critical
need for birth control.
Ms. Sanger then
went on to start the Planned Parenthood Federation and to campaign for
50 years for women's right to birth control. She was arrested many times
on charges of obscenity. She was partly responsible for the American
Medical Association finally deciding to teach the subject of birth control
to their medical students.
The Kinsey study
on female sexuality showed that women's sexual behavior changed as a
result of Sanger. Women no longer used douching and withdrawal as birth
control methods, but the more effective methods of the use of condoms
and diaphragms.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Women, Morality and Birth Control; My Fight for Birth Control,
Margaret Sanger
Intimate Matters: a History of Sexuality in America, John D'Emilio
and Estelle B. Freedman
What Every American Should Know About Women's History, Holbrook
