Subjects:
In 1914 she wrote a magazine called The Woman Rebel. At that time was against the law to import or distribute any device, medicine or information designed to prevent conception or induce abortion. As a nurse Sanger was also barred from giving this information out to patients. She was indicted for this "crime" but her case was dismissed in 1916. In that same year she established the first birth control clinic and was immediately charged with "maintaining a public nuisance". But that didn't stop her! While serving thirty days in the penitentiary she organized a school for fellow inmates.
That was just the beginning; she won an appeal making it legal for physicians to give birth-
. . .
What was her motive? Sanger believed that women have a right to make decisions about their body. What Sanger did was courageous beyond belief and not only set the tone for woman's rights, but for women to speak out for their rights. Enforced motherhood is the most complete denial of a woman's right to life and liberty. It would be a long hard road with much opposition, but by 1936 a Supreme court ruling made it legal to mail birth control information, and the AMA reversed its decision giving physicians the right to distribute birth control devices to their patients.
So what makes a woman become such an advocate for birth control when the law, religion and the majority of the world are against her? Sanger became a nurse after teaching for a short time and then being called home to nurse her mother who had been weakened by having so many children. I know not everyone believes in birth control today, but I think that most people would rather be an advocate of birth control and family planning rather than see more abortions and abandoned children. Sanger died at the age of eighty-seven with all of her dreams and goals fulfilled. Not only the legal issues she met with mentioned above, but as a result of a charge by the government of nine counts of breaking obscenity laws, she had to flee to London for two years, leaving her husband and children behind. As a nurse she helped deliver babies and nurse weak mothers back to health. It seemed that her philosophy was already shared by many in Europe at the time so she became familiar with the advocates of the birth control issues in Europe to use not only to defend herself, but to strengthen her advocacy for the issue in the United States. She believed that the improvement of women's lives depended on it.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.