The pioneering work of Margaret Sanger, an American crusader for scientific contraception (birth control), family planning, population control, and influence on women's rights movement made her a world-renowned figure (Chesler, 1992).
Margaret Higgins Sanger was born Margaret Higgins on September 14, 1884, in Corning, New York. Her father was a fun-loving freethinker. Her mother was a devoted Roman Catholic who had eleven children before dying of tuberculosis, a deadly disease that attacks the lungs and bones. Margaret was greatly influenced by her father's political views in support of women's suffrage (the right to vote) and tax reform (improvements), although these and other beliefs caused the family to be seen as radical (extreme) in the eyes of their neighbors (Chesler, 1992).
After graduating from the local high school and from Claverack College at Hudson, New York, Margaret took a teaching position in New Jersey, until she was forced to return home to care for her dying mother. Her mother's death in 1896 left her with a deep sense of dissatisfaction concerning her own and society's medical ignorance. Soon afterwards Margaret moved to White Plains, New York, where she took nurse's training. She then moved to New York City and served in the extremely poor conditions in the slums of its Lower East Side. In 1902 she married William Sanger. Although Margaret herself was plagued by tuberculosis, she had her first child, a son, the next year. The couple had another son, as well as a daughter who died in childhood (Kennedy, 1970).
Margaret Sanger was very aware of how unwanted pregnancies affected lives. She witnessed the affects of self-induced abortions, the transferring of diseases from mother to child, and the deaths of mothers and children due to poor health conditions. Feeling strongly about the problem unwanted pregnancies, Sanger devoted her life to acquiring the right for women to prevent pregnancies through the use of contraceptives. After years of dedication and hard work, Margaret Sanger not only accomplished what she had hoped for-making people understand the importance and necessity of birth control, but also accomplishes something greater by extending women’s rights as well (Parrish, 1992) .
Throughout her life, Sanger fought the law many times. She was tried for breaking post office laws and for illegally running operations-providing birth control contraceptives and information without being a physician. For these penalties, she was fined and imprisoned. Margaret Sanger was a woman in the public arena fighting for the public. People watched her for years. They saw that she never gave up on her cause. Margaret Sanger proved to people that she was powerful-that women could not be ignored and that their rights must be recognized. The longer Sanger worked on her cause, the greater the number of her supporters grew. Her supporters varied from poor workers to physicians and public figures. While the number of influential supporters of birth control grew, the number of supporters of woman’s rights grew along with it (Whitelaw, 1994).
References
Chesler, E. (1992). Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Kennedy, D. M. (1970). Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Parrish, M. E. (1992). Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920-1941. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Whitelaw, N.(1994). Margaret Sanger: “Every Child a Wanted Child”. New York: Dillon Press.
Chesler, E. (1992). Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Kennedy, D. M. (1970). Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Parrish, M. E. (1992). Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920-1941. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Whitelaw, N.(1994). Margaret Sanger: “Every Child a Wanted Child”. New York: Dillon Press.
