Margaret Sanger and the Introduction of Contraceptives in America

Let’s begin with the first question regarding who Margaret Sanger is, and how she euphemistically introduced abortion as a form of contraception? To begin with, sexuality in the United States of America is not the same as seen in the 1800s. Today, a large proportion of women in the country begin utilising a form of contraception at a young age. However, in the 1800s and early 1900s, usage of contraceptives was far less common due to laws prohibiting the distribution of contraceptives or simply information about contraceptives via mail or in other non-approved settings. Margaret Sanger sought to change this. Margaret Sanger is largely known for her work as an ambitious feminist leading the birth control revolution in America and, largely, around the world. However, Sanger’s motivations behind this work had dark roots in racism and eugenics, demonstrating the importance of acknowledging the dangerous rhetoric of her work and how it may have impacted social groups around her.
Sanger’s childhood and early adulthood are said to have largely shaped her passion towards helping women obtain methods of birth control. Sanger was born in 1879, and was raised in a family of eleven children, which was likely uncommon in this time, (and often celebrated) but is often portrayed by Sanger and others who are sympathetic of her work as having resulted in a childhood largely shaped by her mother’s life as a stressed and overworked mother. In addition, in her early adulthood, Sanger also became a nurse in New York, and she claims that this career opened her eyes to the struggles women (specifically) without access to birth control faced due to unplanned and ill-equipped pregnancies. In her autobiography, Sanger recalled numerous occasions in which women came to her, seeking a way to avoid or prevent pregnancies. In one instance, a woman asked, “Miss Higgins, [which was Mrs Sanger maiden name] what should I do not to have another baby right away?”. In another instance, a woman had several miscarriages and six children, while doctors and nurses knew that she would likely return again with pregnancy-related health issues, they did nothing about it because pregnancy and its related issues were deemed to be “natural”.
But, this does not necessarily sound like concerns that required a means of contraception; they rather required education for women on the reproductive system in their bodies. And this was a common problem for many women, including those outside of Sanger’s purview because for the longest time women’s bodies were not significantly studied for medical purposes. In particular, policies that encourage the inclusion of women in research originated during the women’s health movement, which emerged as part of the women’s movement. During the 1970s, few women worked in either medicine or science, and many women believed that women’s health needs were a low priority in the scientific and medical fields. In addition, women have also been underrepresented in clinical trials due to concerns about potential risks during pregnancy and hormonal variations. This exclusion has thus limited many’s understanding of how treatments affect women specifically (including in a number of ways even in the present). But, here’s more on Margaret Sanger.
THE ORIGINS OF THE ABORTION SENSATIONALISING ‘PLANNED PARENTHOOD’
This brings us to the second question regarding what was Margaret Sanger’s role in the founding of what is today known as ‘Planned Parenthood’? Ultimately, Sanger is largely remembered for having fought to have contraceptives legal and widely available in the US. In light of this, she proceeded to found what is known today as Planned Parenthood, launching another publication known as Birth Control Review, founding the American Birth Control League, and more, and eventually, her efforts lead to the legalisation and popular usage of birth control in the United States of America. Well, by their fruits we know them, and Planned Parenthood, has certainly made apparent what their perceptions on unborn babies are – which is a dehumanising approach.
In particular, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast ran the biggest abortion clinic in the western Hemisphere in Houston, Texas. This abortion clinic not only aborted babies up to 6 months, but they sold the aborted babies for experiments. Why is this important to note: first, it emphasises that they are not an entity advocating the safety or life of the mother, they function with a blatant disregard for the life of an unborn child. But to further appreciate the gravity of the truth that these people are controlled by demonic forces, kindly have a listen to how they speak about the bodies of the children that were aborted.
But, while the footage we just watched was recently released, it is not the first time that Planned Parenthood is implicated in an abortion scandal. More specifically, you’d recall that we recently discussed a judge ruling, on the 19th of June this year, from a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey accusing Planned Parenthood of transporting minors out of state for abortions will move forward. The lawsuit is based on conversations between Planned Parenthood staff and a man from a conservative activist group who secretly filmed the staff while inquiring about an abortion for his fake 13-year-old niece. The video, which was captured in December, was posted on social media by the conservative activist group and self-proclaimed right wing news organisation that often conducts undercover stings.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which runs the Kansas City area clinic where the video was taken, asked that the judge dismiss the lawsuit shortly after it was filed. Furthermore, at a hearing in early June, John Andrew Hirth, an attorney for Planned Parenthood, said there was no proof the Kansas City area clinic broke the law. However, the Boone County Judge, Brouck Jacobs, found merit for moving forward with the case.
MARGARET SANGER: THE RACIST EUGENICIST REBRANDED AS AN AMBITIOUS FEMINIST
And now onto the final question regarding what was Margaret Sanger’s racist eugenicist view on abortion? Well, Sanger was a prominent historical figure known for her efforts toward the legalisation and wide-spread usage of contraceptives in America. HOWEVER, there were far more “important” inspirations behind Sanger’s work than quick Google searches delve into. Specifically, Sanger’s writings shed light on underlying motives of Sanger in her movement toward family planning: eugenics and racism. Sanger strongly backed the field of eugenics and saw birth control as an innovative and safe way to medically allow for limiting the abilities of certain populations to reproduce. Her eugenic beliefs also found themselves rooted in race, greatly affecting African American populations in America and furthering beliefs that people of color were lesser than or appropriate for being used as test subjects for medical advancements. Both of these belief systems drove Sanger’s fight for widespread, easy access to birth control in America.
For one, Sanger was a strong proponent of eugenics, and many of her writings demonstrated the clear link she saw between controlling reproduction of certain groups and birth control. Sanger believed that the country was suffering greatly due to uncontrolled reproduction, specifically the unstable majority of the “feeble-minded” ─ people living in city slums, overridden with disease, poverty, and other struggles. At the time, it was thought that feeble-mindedness was associated with “abnormally high rate[s] of fertility” ─ which was described as a “biological menace” ─ and many believed that reproduction of feeble-minded people would only result in pauperism or insanity in the following generation.
Well, because of this, Sanger and many others turned toward contraceptives to fight this “emergency” in order to lessen the burden on and protect the intelligence of the community as a whole. Sanger argued that the modern society had been too laisser-faire, “respecting the personal liberty of the individual only in regard to the unrestricted and irresponsible bringing into the world of filth and poverty and overcrowding procession of infants foredoomed to death or heritable disease”. In other words, Sanger argued that feeble-minded people should not be granted the  personal liberty to reproduce as much as “normal people”. Rather, she proposed the segregation and sterilization of feeble-minded groups. Specifically, she argued that every feeble-minded girl in her childbearing age needed to be segregated in order to prevent her from bearing “imbecile children”. Sanger also argued that “the male defectives are no less dangerous”, claiming that segregation of women would only handle part of the problem, and therefore, the immediate sterilization of men was needed in order to ensure that “parenthood is absolutely prohibited to the feeble-minded”. Therefore, Sanger demonstrated clear objections to free abilities to reproduce in “lesser than” groups of society, and she recognised the way in which birth control could help prevent population growth in the so-called feeble-minded groups.
Moreover, Sanger was extremely important in establishing the link between birth control and eugenics, as she saw it as a productive means toward backing the ideas of then-prominent eugenicists. She noted that eugenicists had been given “proof that reckless spawning carries with it the seeds of destruction” and saw birth control as the solution for eugenicists to aid in reducing the population of feeble-minded citizens. Sanger claimed “Birth control… is really the greatest and most truly eugenic method, and its adoption as part of the program of Eugenics would immediately give a concrete and realistic power to that science”. It is therefore clear that Sanger was a prominent figure in connecting a eugenics “problem” to the “solution” of birth control. All of this is to say that birth control, including abortion, had their beginnings in eugenics.
An interesting future of the discussion on eugenics has been its exposure of celebrated figures; like Winston Churchill, Will Keith Kellogg of the Kellogg’s brand, and now even the so-called ambitious and trailblazing feminist Margaret Sanger. And this is likely because history is often distorted by the narratives of the so-called vectors; or those with a sinister agenda, who desire to capitalise on the popularity of individuals to make them the face of their work. But, the more we look at the history of developments in society, the more it becomes apparent that to know the history, helps you make a more informed judgement of the present.