Margaret+Sanger

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) by: Sophie Szentes



** Margaret Sanger was an e﻿mpowering woman who had a major impact on women’s rights. When certain methods of birth control were illegal in the early 1900’s Margaret Sanger tried to legalize bitch control and contraceptives. ** ** Margaret Sanger was born into a family of eleven children. Her maiden name was Margaret Louise Higgins. She changed her name to Margaret Sanger when she married William Sanger in 1902. **

She trained as a nurse at White Plains Hospital and the Manhattan Eye and Ear Clinic in New York. While she was working there she saw many women go through tragic pregnancies, miscarriages, and even deaths caused by pregnancies. Margaret Sanger said “the first right of every child is to be wanted, to be desired, to be planned with an intensity of love that gives it its title to being.” She believed that a woman had the right to plan how many children she wanted. Because she grew up in a time when contraceptives were illegal, due to a federal statue called the Comstock Act, she was determined to establish a national system of information centers where women could receive information about birth control and pregnancy. She wanted to discover safe and effective ways for women to regulate their pregnancies. She traveled to Europe to study safe and effective birth control methods used there. Since birth control was more acceptable there, she hoped to discover better birth control technologies and popularize them in the United States. In 1915 Sanger began publishing information about birth control and contraceptives. In 1915 she was accused of sending a “diaphragm” through the mail and she was arrested in 1916 for establishing the first birth control facility in the nation. In 1921 she found the American Birth Control League. Her goal was to invent a contraceptive pill that could easily be taken orally to help regulate pregnancy. She believed that the “diaphragm”, which was popular in Europe, was awkward and expensive which made it a less appealing form of contraceptive. In 1951 she met Gregory Pincus who was a medical expert in human reproduction. He was glad to help her with her desire to create a contraceptive pill. Finally, in 1960, Sanger’s dream came true. The FDA approved the Envoid pill, which was the first legal contraceptive in a pill form.

Sources Cited: Topalian, Elyse. Margaret Sanger . 1984. Print.

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