Langeland 1

Margaret Sanger: Knowledge of Birth Control Methods

Phoebe Langeland

HIST 1700
Professor Ken Hansen
April 12, 2016

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The different types of birth control methods are known throughout the world. Birth
control methods have evolved and grown so much over time since it was invented. All
the different types now a days are abstinence, birth control implant, birth control path,
birth control pills, birth control shot, birth control sponge and many more.1 Margaret
Sanger played a huge part in birth control and the different methods that she wanted all
women to be aware of them. In an article it states that, Margaret Sanger other trials,
raids, and harassments, but each time won additional public support for her
organizationPlanned Parenthoodand her cause.2 Margaret wanted women to know
their options for three main reasons, the right of every woman to control her fertility, the
right of parents to be free of the crises of unwanted pregnancy, and the right of child to
be wanted.
I thought I would give a short description of Margarets life for people who don't
know who she is. I didn't know who she was until I googled her. Margaret Sanger was
born in 1879 in Corning, New York and raised in a stridently socialist, feminist, and
atheist home.3 It seems that she may have grown up in a little bit more of a different
household than normal but she was a regular person. Once Margaret grew up she had
one dream in mind and she was set out to follow it no matter what it took. Sanger
became a nurse and ended up finding work in New York. Once she was a nurse there in
the big city, that is where she saw the problems with women and unwanted pregnancies
1"Birth

Control Methods - Birth Control Options." Birth Control Methods - Birth Control Options.
N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
2Wardell,

Dorothy. "Margaret Sanger: Birth Control's Successful Revolutionary." American

Journal Of Public Health 70.7 (1980): 736. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
3CARLSON,

ALLAN. "SANGER's VICTORY: How Planned Parenthood's Founder Played The

Christians--And Won." Touchstone: A Journal Of Mere Christianity 24.1 (2011): 39-49. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

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and wanted to help them. She invented the magic pill or known as birth control for
these women and she wanted to get birth control legalized for women which would be a
tough battle.4 She knew this would be such a tough battle during her time but she
believed that the only way to change the law was to break it. 5
With a history on Margaret Sanger and what she lived for its only right to give a
short background of birth control as well. In an article it gives a perfect description of
exactly what Margaret was trying to achieve. She sought someone to realize her vision
of a contraceptive pill as easy to take as an aspirin. She wanted a pill that could provide
women with a cheap, safe, effective and female-controlled contraception.6 Margarets
research ended in 1951 when she found Gregory Pincus who was willing to take on this
huge project. This would have been such a huge project to take on and so many women
counted on Margaret Sanger and Gregory Pincus to make this happen. Gregory is a
medical expert in human reproduction, and we should be thanking him as well since he
played a part in making the birth control pill.
Now that we have a basic background of birth control and Margaret Sanger and
what she lived for we can jump into exactly why she did it all. First, one of the three
reasons she wanted women to be aware of birth control methods is the right for every
woman to control her fertility. Back in the days of 1912 New York would be classified as
over populated and social workers and physicians wanted women to stop having
children in this over populated world. Margaret would say that there were two types of

4"People
5Ibid
6Ibid

& Events: Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

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women in the world, the fit and the unfit. Margarets Sangers description of fit and
unfit women is this,
Birth control was for fit women like herself, who wished to be freed from the
difficulties of childbirth and child rearing in order to pursue a bourgeois, romantic
vision of sexual freedom. But it was also for those women who were unfit who
recklessly perpetuated their damaged genetic stock by irresponsibly breeding
more children in an already overpopulated world.7
Sanger noticed that it didn't matter if you were fitor unfit you had every right to have
birth control available. It didn't matter if you already had quite a few kids or no kids at all
it was your choice on how you would control that. Margaret classified herself as a fit
woman because she only had three children and no more than that. She thought though
it didn't matter what you classified yourself as birth control should be available to you.
When looking at the unfit women that means that they just have large families
that just kept growing. It was a burden on women to keep having children and raise
these large families and Margaret wanted to help these women to not have to worry
about that anymore. Having just one child is such a burden on the womans body and if
women couldn't control how many they had that puts a huge toll on them. The first out of
three reasons why Margaret Sanger wanted women to know about the different birth
control methods is the right for women to control her fertility. This reason is mainly
broken up in the the fit and unfit women. Once they knew that it could be controlled
they were relieved that they had other options. Once women found out the birth control
options it was the best option out there that didn't harm any one and women could
finally be in control of their fertility, which is exactly what Sanger wanted.

7Franks,

Angela. "Sanger's Control of Female Fertility | PRI." Sanger's Control of Female

Fertility | PRI. N.p., 01 Mar. 2005. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.

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The second reason why Margaret wanted women to be aware of birth control
methods is the right of parents to be free of the crises of unwanted pregnancy. Going
along the lines of parents thinking its a crises of an unwanted pregnancy is thinking they
would either get an abortion or give the kid away. In Sangers opinion, abortion was an
evil practice that would become obsolete once birth control was practiced and
understood by women and families throughout the world. 8 Thinking about Sangers
opinion it makes me think that abortion was not the way to go if you have better options.
I think she wanted people to know about birth control options so that parents would
never have to go through the process of an abortion because the child is unwanted. The
topic of abortion could be a whole other topic on its own, but in my own opinion no
matter what time period you live in abortion is never the right way to go, Especially if
you can control the whole situation anyway.
This goes hand in hand with women being able to control her own fertility. Yes,
women may have gotten abortions back in the day to save her own life and they should
be able to choose when they have children or not. But being how Margaret is the
founder of birth control she would prefer to see women not go through the crises of
unwanted pregnancy. If women simply understood what Margaret Sanger has provided
for women and its something as simple as a pill they wouldn't be living in a crises most
of their life. Every women has their own personal thoughts on what they can and cant
do and how they will go about having children, but everyone would agree with Sanger
and say just take the pill and quit putting your body through this trauma.

8"Margaret

Sangers Views on Abortion." Margaret Sanger Papers Project. N.p., 04 June 2012.
Web. 15 Apr. 2016.

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The third thing that Margaret Sanger wanted women to be aware of birth control
methods is the right for children to be wanted. Sneaking in my own personal opinion in,
children should always be wanted. If you are being apart of this you should really be
cautious and thinking do I want kids or not? If I ended up getting pregnant would I really
love this child or just give it up? I think women get to be to reckless and aren't aware of
birth control methods and have children that aren't wanted. In times now if you have a
child that you cant provide for or love like you should there is adoption and a wonderful
family can take it and give it the life it needs. Most likely in the time of Margaret Sanger
adoption wasn't much of an option.
Adoption or not once you bring to this world a little tiny human how could you not
just love them unconditionally. Women carry children if they were planned or not for nine
months you would think that no matter what happened you would grow an attachment to
the child and always love it and nurture it forever.
Children should always be wanted and thanks to Margaret women have the
option to control when they can and cant have children. The control to love the children,
they chose to have, not because it was an accident. Margaret Sanger wrote an article
called, The tragedy of the Accidental Child. In this article Margaret shares her very
strong opinion on the matter of every child should be wanted. Sanger says, I believe
that the mothers fear of pregnancy has a most unhappy influence upon the life of her
offspring. I believe that this fear and the unsuccessful practice of coitus interruptus are
responsible for their timidity, the fretfulness and feebleness of many infants.9 Every

9Sanger,

Margaret. "The Tragedy of the Accidental Child." The Public Papers of Margaret
Sanger: Web Edition. Birth Control Review, Apr. 1919. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

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mother should want their child its a little tiny human that every woman personally brings
in to this world, of course it should be wanted and always loved.
Yes, even today it is still a problem that children are being born into families that
don't want them which is great for people who are trying to adopt and take in children to
love them. Still today though people don't know they have that option and think they
have to keep the baby and raise it in a hostile environment and unloving. My guess that
back in Sangers time of 1912 no one really knew of adoption and just had these
growing families that was hard to love every single child. That definitely has gone down
since adoption is such a great thing for women who want families but physically cant.
When talking about adoption though that can be another topic on its own.
When talking about birth control and all the different methods and ways I don't
think Margaret knew where her work would have come this far. Everyone has their own
views on birth control for sure but its the same debate in different religions. Margaret
grew up in a strong Catholic family and Catholics today have very strong views on birth
control. They think that it shouldn't even be a thing, that if you are going to be a part of
that life and not ready for children thats your problem and you will have to deal with it.
Seeing how birth control today is such a huge controversy Margaret probably never saw
it coming. Even though Sanger has passed she only created birth control or the magic
pill for women who didn't want big families or children at all. All her reasoning was a
part of the science side never a religious aspect.
With all the different religions we have on this world of course each one has their
own views on birth control methods and if it should be used or not. I know some
religions don't think that birth control methods should be used at all and some that are

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okay with it as long as its being used for good. Then as I already mentioned I know that
Catholics despise it and don't think it even be a thing. Even though Margaret isn't here
today to physically see all the controversy with her product she never would have seen
this coming. Her idea for this was for the science and to help women for the better. In
any paper or article that I read for research on Margaret Sanger and her work religion
was never brought up as an issue. If you look at articles today about birth control or
planned parenthood or birth control religion and the government is so involved. Sanger
never intended for that to happen and even though she had to deal with the government
a lot and the state its more of a controversy now a days.
To wrap up this ongoing topic of Margaret Sanger and why she wanted women to
know about all the different birth control methods there is just a few things to say. First
of all this woman has saved so many womens lives being the founder of planned
parenthood and creating the magic pill. Next, she has done some amazing work and I
think she has really looked out for women form the time she had lived and continuing to
this day. Margaret set these three rights for women and completed them all with her
invention. She wanted women to have the right to control her own fertility, the right of
parents to be free of the crises of an unwanted pregnancy, and the right for children to
be wanted. Sanger had these great intentions for women all around the world and most
women don't know about Margaret and what she had done. I know I didn't and it was
such a privilege to learn about this extraordinary woman and she should be thanked for
her great work that she brought to the world.

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Wardell, Dorothy. "Margaret Sanger: Birth Control's Successful Revolutionary." American

Journal Of Public Health 70.7 (1980): 736. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
"Birth Control Methods - Birth Control Options." Birth Control Methods - Birth Control Options.
N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
CARLSON, ALLAN. "SANGER's VICTORY: How Planned Parenthood's Founder Played The
Christians--And Won." Touchstone: A Journal Of Mere Christianity 24.1 (2011): 39-49. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
"People & Events: Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
Franks, Angela. "Sanger's Control of Female Fertility | PRI." Sanger's Control of Female Fertility
| PRI. N.p., 01 Mar. 2005. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.

"Margaret Sangers Views on Abortion." Margaret Sanger Papers Project. N.p., 04 June 2012.
Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Sanger, Margaret. "The Tragedy of the Accidental Child." The Public Papers of Margaret
Sanger: Web Edition. Birth Control Review, Apr. 1919. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.