Margaret Sanger set the stage for women’s reproductive rights with groundbreaking actions and relentless courage. As the founder of Planned Parenthood and the force behind the birth control movement, Sanger’s influence still shapes lives and health policies. Explore these remarkable highlights about her enduring legacy.
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger entered the world on September 14, 1879, in Corning, New York. She grew up as the sixth of eleven siblings.
Despite hardship, Sanger pursued nursing, seeing firsthand the impact of uncontrolled fertility on women’s health.
In 1916, she opened America’s first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, which led to her arrest and sparked national attention.
Sanger fiercely challenged the Comstock Law, which made sharing birth control information illegal at the time.
Throughout her life, she coined the term “birth control” and published The Birth Control Review to share vital health tips.
Not stopping there, she founded the American Birth Control League in 1921, the forerunner of Planned Parenthood.
She openly flouted restrictive laws and faced multiple imprisonments, rallying public support for women’s rights each time.
Internationally, Sanger took her message to countries such as India and Japan, advocating family planning worldwide.
When many had doubts, she championed research that created the first birth control pill, transforming women’s health options.
Sanger authored influential publications, including “What Every Mother Should Know” and her own autobiography.
Determined to shape public health, she inspired the creation of family planning clinics and broadened access to contraception.
She married twice and balanced raising three children with a demanding career of activism.
Sanger was unafraid to debate controversial topics, including eugenics, though historians now critique that part of her history.
Despite fierce opposition from religious and political leaders, she expanded choices for women everywhere.
Today, Sanger remains a celebrated feminist, remembered for her trailblazing courage and commitment to women’s freedom.
