Margaret Sanger Research Paper

Margaret Sanger is on the list of the top 100 influential people. She was an activist for women's rights and for birth control. She accomplished many things in her life, but most importantly, she helped give women the right to use birth control if they wanted it. This gave women the freedom to have careers,to take control of their health, and the freedom of their sexuallity. She deserves to be on the list of the top one hundred influential Americans. Margaret Sanger is known as the “The ardent champion of birth control—and of the sexual freedom that came with it (TheAtlantic.com).” Before birth control women did not usually have sex that often in fear of getting pregnant. Sanger changed that for many women in america, and all over the world.

The next year she was deemed guilty of maintaining a public nuisance and sentenced to jail for thirty days. Once released, she re-opened her clinic and continued to persevere through more arrests and prosecutions.(www.ourbodiesourselves.org)” Sanger risked many trips to jail to support her cause because she believed that it was the right thing to do. Her perseverance eventually paid off after many years. In 1938 “A case involving Margaret Sanger, a judge lifted the federal ban on birth control, ending the comstock era. Diaphragms, also known as womb veils, became a common source of birth control (ourbodiesoursleves.com).” Before this time, it was illegal for women to use birth control if they wanted. Not only could they not buy it at stores, they were confiscated in the mail. Sanger relieved the stress of becoming pregnant for many women, however the diaphragm only worked if it was inserted

One obstacle she faced was being accused as a racist and that her plan was “to kill black babies. (Herman Cain).” However, Sanger wrote,”We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” Her goal was never to exterminate the black population, but to simply to empower women to make their own reproductive choices. This describes the preposterous allegations that she faced by many people. Some people may have said these allegations because she focused her efforts in minority communities. But, her reason for doing this is because that was where women were vulnerable to the effects of unplanned parenthood due to poverty and limited access to health