Sanger, Margaret (1879–1966)

Margaret Sanger led a crusade to free women from the endless and sometimes deadly cycle of pregnancies by advocating birth control during the early 20th century. At this time, birth control was illegal for any woman, even those who were married. Without control over their bodies in this way, women faced lives that consisted of multiple pregnancies, many of which ended in the death of the baby and/or the mother. Sanger argued that women would not be fully able to participate in life outside the home until they could control when and if they became pregnant. Sanger was passionate about this cause and insisted that women should be allowed to make these choices for themselves. She told many stories of women in fear and despair who came to her for answers because no one else would help them.

Sanger was a witness to the horrors of which she spoke. She was born in New York to a Catholic mother who had 18 pregnancies, 11 of which resulted in live births. Sanger herself had three children, all of them dying in their childhoods. Sanger was determined to save women from the pain that she, her mother, and thousands of other women went through each day. She devoted her life to spreading information about birth control to women who were in desperate need of some method of reproductive control.

In 1916, Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic in Brooklyn. This clinic was the first of its kind in the United States and violated laws concerning the dissemination of information for the purposes of birth control. The clinic was raided by the police and Sanger was arrested for violating the post office's obscenity laws by sending birth control information by mail. Her arrest led to her imprisonment, a hunger strike, and a trial. She was convicted of maintaining a public nuisance and was sentenced to 30 days in a workhouse. While in prison she gave lectures to the inmates on hygiene and reproduction while out of sight of the guards.

Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1921 with Lothrop Stoddard and C. C. Little. In 1923, she established the first legal birth control clinic in the United States. She spent the rest of her life advocating both here and abroad for birth control information for women. Sanger was convinced that women needed to have control of their reproductive future in order to protect themselves. In the 1950s, Katherine McCormick, a wealthy feminist who shared Sanger's views on birth control, provided funds for the development of the birth control pill. In 1960, “the pill” finally became available to the general public and coincided with the burgeoning feminist movement. Sanger died in 1966 in Tucson, Arizona, only a few months after the landmark decision in Griswold v. Connecticut legalized birth control for married couples in the United States. Her 50 year struggle had been a success.