Margaret
Sanger
1879-1966
Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist, nurse and sex
educator. She founded the American Birth Control
League, one of the parent organizations of the Planned Parenthood
Federation of America. In 1917, Sanger was jailed for distributing
diaphragms from a makeshift clinic in a tenement
storefront in Brooklyn. Her conviction, when appealed, won an
interpretation of New York law that allowed doctors to prescribe
contraception for medical purposes.
Sanger's reputation has taken a hit in recent years because she was
something of a eugenicist. Embarrassed organizations have taken her
name off buildings and letterheads because of it. Eugenics gets a bad
rap, but honestly, every time we are are forced to interact with a
family full of loud, obnoxious children in Walmart, and decide that
some people should just not have kids, we are all eugenicists.
Husband: James Noah (m. 1922–1943), William Sanger (m. 1902–1921)
See also Marie Stopes.
SITE INDEX