Sarit Held
Dr. Ziskind
Margaret Sanger: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
It is no surprise that Margaret Sanger became the leading figure of women’s reproductive rights in the 20th century. Born on September 14, 1879, as one of eleven children to a devout Roman Catholic and an Irish free-thinker, Sanger was deeply influenced by her father’s radical political views and haunted by the death of her mother at childbirth when she was just 50 years old after 18 pregnancies. During her time, family planning and women’s health care were not topics discussed or educated about but instead discouraged altogether. Her experience as a nurse led her to witness firsthand the hardships and suffering that resulted from poverty mixed with lack of education. Sanger, an outspoken woman, sought to change this. Despite the political and societal setbacks she faced, Sanger’s, determination to expose the truth and ability to find colleagues to support her led to a radical change in both female reproductive options and in the feminist movement.
Before the second half of the 19th century, abortions were legal. Dating back to colonial times, recipes with herbs that could be home-grown or easily found in the woods as means of contraceptives were used. In fact, by the mid-18th century commercial preparations were widely available. However, these drugs were often fatal. Hospitals were not easily accessible, and antiseptics were unknown. In 1900, six to nine of every 1000 women died in childbirth. The first statutory abortion regulation was passed in Connecticut in 1821 as a poison control measure intending to protect women, not restrict or criminalize abortions. Into the 1840s the abortion business, including the sale of illegal drugs, flourished. A decade later, the American Medical Association (AMA), led a campaign to outlaw abortions. Driven by the desire to eliminate “untrained” practitioners, including midwives, apothecaries, and homeopaths, and gain exclusive rights to practice medicine, the AMA became the strongest force to criminalize abortion. To mask their true reasoning, the AMA focused on the dangers and risks of having an abortion and argued that abortions were immoral. In truth, “protecting” women from the dangers of abortions was just a means to restrict them to the traditional child-bearing role, and anti-abortion legislation served as part of anti-feminist backlash. Likewise, as the birth rate among white native-born Protestants decreased, and immigration by Catholics and nonwhites increased, so did nativism and anti-Catholic sentiments. The public was warned of a “race suicide” and urged white, native-born women to reproduce, deeming abortion as the greatest sin. The public’s stance on abortion was easily swayed by the opinions of their governments and religion. The Catholic Church condemned abortion in 1869 at around the same time it had become a politicized topic. By 1910, abortion was criminalized in all but one state.
Even after abortion had become illegal, women continued to have them, this time behind closed doors in private homes. After watching her mother pass away at childbirth, Margaret Sanger enrolled in a nursing program in White Plains, New York. In 1902, she and her newlywed husband William moved to New York City where Sanger worked in the East Side slums of Manhattan. There, she encountered the tragic circumstances of women willing to do anything to obtain an abortion and other women stuck in a cycle of poverty because of their rapidly growing families. Sanger was called to help a woman by the name of Sadie Sachs who had become severely ill after she had performed an abortion on herself. After her recovery, Sachs visited a doctor in hopes to obtain better contraceptives. Despite her plea, the doctor’s only advise was for her to remain abstinent. Months later, Sanger returned to Sachs apartment to find out that she had died after having performed yet another abortion on herself with no other option available to her. Sanger was furious and wrote, “this state of things became a nightmare with me, there seemed no sense to it all, no reason for such waste of mother life, no right to exhaust women’s vitality and to throw them on the scrap- heap before the age of thirty-five.”
Not only did Sanger face an epidemic of sick women because of unsanitary abortions, but she was also confronted with a larger problem: lack of education and inability to share useful information. Even though the condom was invented in 1709, information about contraception was limited and doctors were hesitant to prescribe or advice patients to use contraceptive devices due to various reasons including moral and religious beliefs. Despite the medical advancements that had taken place, the timing of ovulation, the length of the fertile period, and other reproductive facts were unknown. Ideas of morality prevented any conversation about sex education outside of marriage or reproductive health. In 1872 Anthony Comstock, a devout Christian who was appalled by pornography and the contraceptive industry, drafted a bill that defined contraceptives and any information about contraception or abortion as obscene and illicit. Sending any informative material, including medical journals, in the mail or across state lines regarding contraceptives was a federal offense. After the bill was enacted, twenty-four states drafted their own versions—the most restrictive being Connecticut, where a married couple who used birth control could face a one-year prison sentence. Not only did the Comstock Act outlaw the forms of contraceptive themselves, but it stopped any possible spread of information about reproductive health that could have helped the women Sanger worked with every day.
Outraged by the things she saw and inability to access any useful information to share with her patients, Sanger slowly transitioned from practicing nursing to education, and in 1912 she began writing a series of articles she titled “What Every Girl Should Know” for the socialist newspaper The New York Call. Later published as a book, the seven chapters explained highly sensitive topics related to sex, reproduction, and sexually transmitted infections. Sanger defined adolescence, menstruation and explained sexual impulses along with reproduction. In a society built on gender roles, this was the first work published that shared information so that young women could make informed decisions about their own reproductive lives. The content of Sanger’s articles blatantly and purposely went against the restraints of the Comstock Act. Anthony Comstock was a special agent of the Post Office Department and in 1913 he cited one of the articles for violating the law for its use of the words “syphilis” and “gonorrhea” and had the US Post Office ban it. Sanger was warned that her publishing privileges would be revoked if she were to publish another indecent article. The citation not only fueled Sanger’s desire to make birth control information accessible to all women, but also gave her a new goal to repeal the federal Comstock Act. Sanger allied with many prominent Progressive Era activists including Max Eastman, Upton Sinclair, and Emma Goldman to create the start of a movement to repeal the act. She became a committed member of the Women’s Committee of the New York chapter of the Socialist Party and took part in various women’s labor protests, garnering attention and gathering other prominent figures in the Socialist party and feminist movement to join in her fight.
In 1914, Sanger once again turned her attention back to education and launched her own feminist publication advocating for birth control called The Woman Rebel. Boasting the slogan “No Gods, No Masters,” the monthly writings served to “stimulate working women to think for themselves….” and was a call to arms for the working-class women who wanted to take control of their own reproductive lives and were sick of having their lives mandated by a male-dominated religion. Printed on the first edition of The Woman Rebel Sanger described a woman’s role as “to look the world in the face with a go-to-hell look in the eyes; to have an idea; to speak and act in defiance of convention.” Sanger coined the term “birth control” in The Woman Rebel, vowing to include all information she could find about it. The Women Rebel was met with controversy from the very first edition in March of 1914. The radical publication was viewed controversially, and even Sanger’s sisters thought she had a nervous disorder and needed rest and her father suggested a sanitarium. Even still, Sanger had opened the eyes of many who had read the article and sparked a discussion across the country as news of her publishing made headlines. In April, the postal authorities notified her that she had violated the Comstock Act once again, and this time she was formally arrested and indicted in August of 1914. Unwilling to face the maximum sentence of 45 years in jail and still committed to accomplishing her goals, Sanger fled to Canada and then sailed to England under the name “Bertha Watson,” more determined than ever. Before her escape, Sanger was given six weeks to prepare her defense, where she instead wrote a short book on birth control called Family Limitation. The book showcased all forms of contraceptives, including some that were not available in the United States but were common practice in places like Holland where contraceptives were legal. Women from all economic classes wanted to know and were more than willing to pay twenty-five cents to be able to access the information. The book was translated into thirteen languages and sold ten million copies, putting Sanger’s name at the very top of the Birth Control Movement. Sanger was willing to risk everything to make the information accessible to public and remained unafraid of the legal repercussions she faced.
Although Sanger’s unwavering resistance to the Comstock Act garnered support from many women and figures in the feminist movement, information was hard to share overseas and the momentum Sanger had created faded as she fled the country. With some money gathered from the success of Family Limitations, she paid for an apartment in London and began studying the history of family planning. She immersed herself in the writings of Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, and Robert Owen, all influential men who focused on political and social reform. While in England, Sanger became close friends with Havelock Ellis, who eventually became her mentor. She also befriended writers H.G. Wells George Bernard Shaw, and Marie Stopes, who was also a well-known advocate for birth control. Ellis was known for his expression of tolerance for sexual diversity and work to reform sex laws in England. He was one of the world’s foremost sexologists and believed firmly, like Sanger, that birth control was the key to sexual liberation. Sanger also used her time abroad to visit the Netherlands and connect with other well-known figures of the Birth Control Movement such as Dr. Johannes Rutgers, who had helped create a nationwide network of birth control clinics. Rutgers took Sanger under his wing and worked with her to try to bring parts of the Dutch system to America. Sanger now had her own network of allies throughout Europe to help her cause in the United States.
While Sanger continued to learn and strengthen her fervor for the cause, her husband, William, was arrested by Anthony Comstock himself for continuing to distribute copies of Family Limitations. Despite having the option to pay a fine, William chose to sit in jail for 30 days, saying, “I would rather be in jail with my conviction than be free at a loss of my manhood and my self-respect.” William’s support of his wife resonated with many people and turned the public’s favor towards Sanger. She returned to New York to stand trial in 1915, but the government decided not to press charges as the death of Sanger’s five-year-old daughter gained nationwide sympathy. Even with everything she had been through, Sanger was determined once more to defy the Comstock Act. After receiving a fifty-dollar donation from a woman who had attended one of Sanger’s lectures, Sanger opened the very first birth control clinic on October 16th, 1916, in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. Aided by her sister Ethyl Byrne who was also a nurse and an interpreter named Fania Mindell, Sanger welcomed in her first patients. The flyer used to advertise the clinic was printed in English, Yiddish, and Italian, available to all that needed it. Modeled after clinics she had observed in Holland, each woman who came to the clinic was given a pamphlet version of What Every Girl Should Know, instructions on how to use a variety of contraceptives and a short explanation on the female reproductive system, all for just ten cents. The clinic had over 100 patients on its first day and served around 400 in the ten days it was operational. On October 26th, 1916, the clinic was raided by undercover officers who arrested all three of the women who founded it. Sanger was released from jail the next morning, and less than a month later reopened the clinic only to be arrested again. She opened the clinic a third time but the police forced the landlord to evict Sanger for good. This time Sanger held trial and was convicted for thirty days in jail. Even so, Sanger did not waste any opportunity to spread her message and she spent her time behind bars teaching her fellow inmates about birth control.
After Sanger had finished serving time because of her refusal to shut down her clinic, Sanger’s popularity soared higher than it had ever been, gaining support not just in New York City but across the country. Even the wealthy began to support Sanger, including British supporters who signed a petition asking President Woodrow Wilson to allow a pamphlet on birth control to circulate. Her persistence to keep advocating for women led her to become a celebrity, with newfound fundraising capabilities because of the support she gained. In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League to gain support from social workers and medical professionals and to keep public support. She served as the president of the organization until 1928, traveling around the country giving lectures, especially focused on the story of Sadie Saches, gaining continued sympathy from women from coast to coast. In the process, Sanger won the loyalty and financial backing of many educated women and men attracted to the birth control movement. In 1929, Sanger formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control to lobby Congress to overturn the Comstock Act and create new legislation that would permit doctors to prescribe contraceptives. By that time, Sanger had established herself as a figure of international merit but still was met with harsh opposition. In Boston, the Catholic Church managed to convince authorities to bar her from speaking. She resisted and was once again facing legal repercussions. That was the same year that the new birth control clinic she established in New York was raided by the police and all their confidential records were taken. Once again Sanger was faced with another setback, one of which had the potential to completely end Sanger’s mission. Even so, Sanger continued to travel across the globe spreading her message and the information she had spent so many years collected, showing once more that nothing was going to stop her from her continued fight for female reproductive options for all women.
Sanger did eventually step out of the spotlight for some time, choosing to settle down in Tucson, Arizona in 1951. Her time away from the public eye was short lived, however, and she continued to work on the birth control issue in other countries throughout Europe and Asia. In 1952, Sanger, with the help of other brave and angry women including Elise Ottesen-Jensen from Sweden, and Dhanvanthi Rama Rau from India, founded International Planned Parenthood Federation. Still, Sanger was not content. She envisioned a “magic pill” as a means of contraception and recruited Gregory Pincus to work on a reality to her vision in 1950. Sanger found the financial support needed from her longtime friend, Katharine McCormick, who had been a leader in the suffrage movement. On May 9, 1960, the first oral contraceptive was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, a culminating victory of Margaret Sanger’s lifelong fight.
After the development of the birth control pill, use of contraceptives increased exponentially. By 1965, one out of every four married women in America under forty-five had used the pill. By 1967, nearly 13 million women in the world were using it. And by 1984 that number would reach 50–80 million. Today, 100 million women take a birth control pill and 2.5 million visit a Planned Parenthood clinic each year, none of whom would be able to without the tireless effort of Sanger.
Margaret Sanger was more than just a pioneer for women’s reproductive rights. She was a woman of passion and resilience and was able to create a movement of women leaders around her to help her on her quest, all the while facing legal persecution and societal obstacles. Sanger became a role model to women across the world, unafraid to meet any challenge and determined her beliefs. More than that, Sanger empowered and continues to empower women because of her relentless fight to give women a fundamental human right: the right for all women to have completely control over their own bodies.