Margaret Sanger

A couple of days ago I listened to a program on NPR on life of Margaret Sanger, who lived during 1874-1966. Do you know her? It is amazing that considering her contributions, I had never heard of her before. She coined the term birth control, organized a campaign to legalize birth control 100 years ago, and established Planned Parenthood. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, which led to her arrest and being jailed. She continued educating women about contraception and birth control in jail. Her work was motivated and influenced by her mother's life, who became pregnant 18 times in 22 years and died at 48 from cervical cancer! Some accuse her of wanting to remove the black race by opening her clinics in poor black areas. The guest of the program argued that she would have been considered a racist had she not opened any clinics for those communities. Pro life groups argued that Sanger promoted abortion. Sanger died in 1966, years before abortion was legalized in the U.S. in 1971. Sanger believed women will be better mothers, raising children better if they could decide when to have children. She believed "no woman was free if she could not control her body". Regardless, she remains an iconic figure in Reproductive Rights movement. You can see the program's highlight here, and read its full script here.

References:

[1] http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-11-15/jean-baker-margaret-sanger-life-passion
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood