Margaret Higgins Sanger

(1879-1966)

During the early 20th century, women in families were not given the proper information regarding healthcare or what to do in situations regarding their own bodies. Margaret Higgins Sanger became one of the first activists to spread awareness of birth control and contraception (1). She believed it was necessary to liberate women from unplanned pregnancies to transform cultural and social development. Sanger dedicated her life to advocating for women's reproductive rights, which led to the founding of the first American Birth Control League in 1921--which later turned into Planned Parenthood (1). 

Portrait of Young Margaret Higgins Sanger (1)

Margaret Higgins Sanger was born on September 14, 1879, in Corning, New York. Sanger was born into a big, Catholic family of eleven brothers and sisters. Sanger's mother passed away from what she believed to be the reason for having the number of children that she conceived (1). Sanger was nineteen years old when she passed away, which made her decide to choose to dedicate her life to advocating for women's healthcare rights. Shortly after her mother's passing, she decided to become a nurse and attended Claverack College and Hudson River Institute, which led to her completing the nursing program at White Plains Hospital in 1902 (1). Sanger married her husband, William Sanger, and moved to New York City to be more involved in women's labor protests. Sanger became a visiting nurse that often visited poor immigrant women and families that were very ill due to the fact of having too many pregnancies, miscarriages, or botched abortions. Sanger witnessed a lot of poverty-stricken families and decided to educate women on how to limit the size of their families (1). During this time, it was illegal to share information about birth control or contraceptives, however, Sanger made it her mission to help these immigrant families make a better life for themselves. Six years later, Sanger decided to open up the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, which resulted in her incarceration for 30 days. Sanger's incarceration sparked up a media frenzy that created a loophole that the courts ruled in her favor, which allowed birth control clinics to reopen with fully staffed doctors and social workers (1). 

Sanger getting arrested in Brownsville, Brooklyn (4)

During a time when families were rapidly expanding, Sanger believed that this may have been the premise of why more families around the world suffered from famine and poverty (1). In her interview with Mike Wallace, she admits that birth control may be the resolution to keeping millions of people around the world from starvation and overpopulation (The Mike Wallace Interview with Margaret Higgins Sanger)(2). Sanger offered a lot of her time spent with eugenics movements that persuaded her motives toward "breeding out" populations with the use of birth control and sterilization. Although she disagreed with several of the influences that brought up the eugenics movement, it eventually damaged her reputation(1). 

Sanger's advocacy birthed how our society's views on contraceptives and the establishment of Planned Parenthood today (3). Although many opinions have recently changed from the paradigm shift of how our country views abortion, Sanger's initial message is still prevalent in current society. Planned Parenthood is an organization that was designed as a safe haven that provided contraceptives and birth control. Planned Parenthood has gone through various reformations since Sanger first initiated the first clinic, from becoming the first place to provide birth control, to later becoming the first place that offered safe abortions for women. Further, in the early 1990s Planned Parenthood had even changed how women were able to receive their birth control, via pills, shots, implants, etc (3). Aside from birth control, Planned Parenthood had become the first institution to provide hormone replacements for transgender individuals (3). Regardless of what people may believe the organization's intentions on their principles are used for, Sanger shifted the stigma of how women's bodies should be treated and created a moral value that women have instilled into themselves today. Although some people may have different political or religious standpoints, Sanger changed the freedom of women's healthcare choices and the right to be able to consult with a doctor/social worker/physician on what is best for them (3).  

Works Cited 

1. Michals, Debra. “Biography: Margaret Sanger.” National Women's History Museum, 2017, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/margaret-sanger.

2. “Mike Wallace Interview with Margaret Sanger.” https://www.c-span.org/video/?288555-1%2Fmike-wallace-interview-margaret-sanger.

3. Parenthood, Planned. “The History & Impact of Planned Parenthood.” Planned Parenthood, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history.

4. projects, Contributors to Wikimedia. “Margaret Sanger.” Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 28 Apr. 2021, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger.