Birth control movement in the United States
Encyclopedia
The birth control movement in the United States was a social reform campaign to make contraception
legal in America. The movement began in 1914 when a group of radicals in New York City, led by Emma Goldman
, Mary Dennett
, and Margaret Sanger
, became concerned about the plight of poor women, who often suffered due to frequent childbirth and self-induced abortion
s. The targets of the activists were the Comstock laws, which outlawed the distribution of information about contraception, which was considered to be obscene. Hoping to provoke a favorable legal decision, Sanger deliberately broke the law by distributing The Woman Rebel, a newsletter containing a prohibited discussion of contraception. In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control
clinic
in the United States.
A major turning point for the movement came during World War I
, when many members of the U.S. military forces were diagnosed with venereal diseases. The resultant anti-venereal disease campaign was the first time a government institution had engaged in a sustained, public discussion of sexual matters. The government's public discourse changed sex from a secretive topic into a legitimate topic of scientific research, and also transformed contraception from an issue of morals to an issue of public health.
Encouraged by the public's changing attitudes towards birth control, Sanger opened a second birth control clinic in 1923, but this time there were no arrests or controversy. Throughout the 1920s, public discussion of contraception become more commonplace, and the phrase "birth control" became firmly established in the nation's vernacular. The widespread availability of contraception signaled the end of the prudish morality of the Victorian era
, and ushered in the emergence of a more sexually permissive society.
Legal victories in the 1930s
continued to weaken the anti-contraception laws. The court victories motivated the American Medical Association
in 1937 to adopt contraception as a core component of medical school curriculums, but the medical community was slow to accept this new responsibility, and women continued to rely on unsafe and ineffective contraceptive advice from ill-informed sources. In 1942, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America was formed, creating a nationwide network of birth control clinics. After World War II
, the movement to legalize birth control came to a gradual conclusion, as birth control was fully embraced by the medical profession, and the remaining anti-contraception laws were no longer enforced.
movement in the U.S. began, the practice was common throughout the country, using longstanding techniques such as the rhythm method
, withdrawal
, diaphragms
, contraceptive sponge
s, condoms, prolonged breast feeding
, and spermicides. Use of contraceptives increased throughout the nineteenth century, causing the fertility rate
in the United States to drop by 50 percent between 1800 and 1900, particularly in urban regions.
Although contraceptives were relatively common in middle-class or upper-class society, the topic was rarely discussed in public. The first book published in the United States which ventured to discuss contraception was Moral Physiology; or, A Brief and Plain Treatise on the Population Question, published by Robert Dale Owen
in 1831. The book suggested that family planning
was a laudable effort, and that sexual gratificationwithout the goal of reproductionwas not immoral. Owen recommended withdrawal, but he also discussed sponges and condoms. That book was followed by Fruits of Philosophy: The Private Companion of Young Married People, written in 1832 by Charles Knowlton
, which recommended douching. Knowlton was prosecuted in Massachusetts on obscenity
charges, and served three months in prison. Knowlton's book was reprinted in England by Charles Bradlaugh
and Annie Besant
, with the goal of challenging Britain's obscenity laws. They were arrested in 1877 (and later acquitted) but the publicity of their trial contributed to the formation, in 1877, of the Malthusian League
England's first birth control advocacy groupwhich sought to limit population growth to avoid the dire demographic predictions of Thomas Malthus
. Other similar organizations were soon created throughout Europe, leading to the establishment of the world's first birth control clinic
in the Netherlands in 1882.
The only known survey conducted during the nineteenth century of American women's contraceptive habits was performed by Clelia Mosher from 1892 to 1912. The survey was based on a small sample of upper-class women, and shows that most of the women used contraception (primarily douching, but also withdrawal, rhythm, condoms and pessaries) and that they viewed sex as a pleasurable act that could be undertaken without the goal of procreation.
Contraception was legal in the United States throughout most of the nineteenth century, but in the 1870s a social purity movement
grew in strength, aimed at outlawing vice
in general, and prostitution
and obscenity in particular. Composed primarily of Protestant moral reformers and middle-class women, the Victorian-era campaign also attacked contraception, which was viewed as an immoral
practice which promoted prostitution and venereal disease. A leader of the purity movement was Anthony Comstock
, a postal inspector
who successfully lobbied for the passage of the 1873 Comstock Act, a federal law prohibiting mailing of "any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion
" as well as any form of contraceptive information. Many states also passed similar state laws (collectively known as the Comstock laws), sometimes extending the federal law by outlawing the use of contraceptives, as well as their distribution. Comstock was proud of the fact that he was personally responsible for thousands of arrests and the destruction of hundreds of tons of books and pamphlets.
Comstock and his allies also took aim at the libertarians and utopians who comprised the free love movement – an initiative to promote sexual freedom, equality for women, and abolition of marriage. The free love proponents were the only group to actively oppose the Comstock laws in the nineteenth century, setting the stage for the birth control movement.
The efforts of the free love movement were not successful and, at the beginning of the twentieth century, federal and state governments began to enforce the Comstock laws more rigorously. In response, contraception went underground, but it was not extinguished. Publications on the topic dwindled, and advertisements, if they were found at all, used euphemisms such as "marital aids" or "hygienic devices". Drug stores continued to sell condoms as "rubber goods" and cervical cap
s as "womb supporters". At the turn of the century, the American government opposed contraception, but American couples continued to practice it.
At the turn of the century, an energetic movement arose, centered in Greenwich Village
, that sought to overturn bans on free speech. Supported by radicals, feminists, anarchists, and atheists such as Ezra Heywood
, Moses Harman
, D. M. Bennett
and Emma Goldman
, these activists regularly battled anti-obscenity laws and, later, the government's effort to suppress speech critical of involvement in World War I
. Prior to 1914, the free speech movement focused on politics, and rarely addressed contraception.
Goldman's circle of radicals, socialists, and bohemians was joined in 1912 by a nurse, Margaret Sanger
, whose mother had been through 18 pregnancies in 22 years, and died at age 45 of tuberculosis and cervical cancer. In 1913, Sanger worked in New York's Lower East Side
, often with poor women who were suffering due to frequent childbirth and self-induced abortions. After one particularly tragic medical case, Sanger wrote: "I threw my nursing bag in the corner and announced ... that I would never take another case until I had made it possible for working women in America to have the knowledge to control birth." Sanger visited public libraries, searching for information on contraception, but nothing was available. She became outraged that working-class women could not obtain contraception, yet upper-class womenwho had access to private physicianscould.
Under the influence of Goldman and the Free Speech League
, Sanger became determined to challenge the Comstock laws that outlawed the dissemination of contraceptive information. With that goal in mind, in 1914 she launched The Woman Rebel, an eight-page monthly newsletter which promoted contraception using the slogan "No Gods, No Masters", and proclaimed that each woman should be "the absolute mistress of her own body." Sanger coined the term birth control, which first appeared in the pages of Rebel, as a more candid alternative to euphemisms such as family limitation.
Sanger's goal of challenging the law was fulfilled when she was indicted in August 1914, but the prosecutors focused their attention on articles Sanger had written on assassination and marriage, rather than contraception. Afraid that she might be sent to prison without an opportunity to argue for birth control in court, she fled to England under the alias Bertha Watson.
While Sanger was in Europe, her husband continued her work, but he was arrested when he distributed a copy of a birth control pamphlet to an undercover postal worker
. The arrest and his 30 day jail sentence prompted several mainstream publications, including Harper's Weekly
and the New York Tribune
, to publish articles about the birth control controversy. Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman
toured the country, speaking in support of the Sangers, and distributing copies of Sanger's pamphlet Family Limitation. Sanger's exile and her husband's arrest propelled the birth control movement into the forefront of American news.
, formed the National Birth Control League
(NBCL). This was the first American birth control organization. Throughout 1915, smaller regional organizations were formed in San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, and Los Angeles.
Sanger returned to the United States in October 1915. She planned to open a birth control clinic modeled on ones she had seen in Netherlands, but first had to fight the charges outstanding against her. Noted attorney Clarence Darrow
offered to defend Sanger free of charge but, bowing to public pressure, the government dropped the charges early in 1916. No longer under the threat of jail, Sanger embarked on a successful cross-country speaking tour, which catapulted her into the leadership of the U.S. birth control movement. Other leading figures, such as William J. Robinson
and Mary Dennett, chose to work in the background, or turned their attention to other causes. Later in 1916, Sanger traveled to Boston to lend her support to the Massachusetts Birth Control League and to jailed birth control activist Van Kleeck Allison
.
at the clinic, and Sanger was arrested. Refusing to walk, Sanger and a co-worker were dragged out of the clinic by police officers. The clinic was shut down, and it was not until 1923 that another birth control clinic was opened in the United States.
Sanger's trial began in January 1917. She was supported by a large number of wealthy and influential women who came together to form the Committee of One Hundred, devoted to raising funds for Sanger and the NBCL. The committee also started publishing the monthly journal Birth Control Review, and established a network of connections to powerful politicians, activists, and press figures. Despite the strong support, Sanger was convicted; the judge offered a lenient sentence if she promised to not break the law again, but Sanger replied "I cannot respect the law as it exists today." She was found guilty, and served a sentence of 30 days in jail.
Other activists were also pushing for progress. Emma Goldman was arrested in 1916 for circulating birth control information, and Abraham Jacobi
unsuccessfully tried to persuade the New York medical community to push for a change in law to permit physicians to dispense contraceptive information.
could not match Sanger's charisma, charm, and fervor.
The movement was evolving from a radical, working-class movement into a campaign backed by society women and liberal professionals. Sanger and her fellow advocates began to tone down their radical rhetoric and instead emphasized the socioeconomic benefits of birth control, a policy which led to increasing acceptance of the movement by mainstream Americans. Several silent motion pictures
produced in the 1910s featured birth control as a theme (including Birth Control
, produced by Sanger and starring herself), and were representative of increasing media coverage of the topic.
Opposition to birth control remained strong. State governments stopped proposed laws that would legalize contraception or the distribution of contraceptive information. Religious leaders spoke out, assailing women who would choose "ease and fashion" over motherhood. Eugenicists were worried that birth control would exacerbate the birth rate differential between "old stock" white Americans and "coloreds" or immigrants.
Sanger formed the New York Woman's Publishing Company (NYWPC) in 1918 and, under its auspices, assumed the publisher's role for the Birth Control Review. British suffragette activist Kitty Marion
, standing on New York street corners, sold the Review at 20 cents per copy, enduring death threats, heckling, spitting, physical abuse, and police harassment. Over the course of the following ten years, Marion was arrested nine times for her birth control advocacy.
of the New York Court of Appeals
upheld her conviction but issued a ruling that allowed doctors to prescribe contraception. This ruling was only binding within New York, where it opened the door for birth control clinics, under physician supervision, to be established. Sanger herself did not immediately take advantage of the opportunity, wrongly expecting that the medical profession would lead the way, and instead she chose to focus on writing and lecturing.
, as a result of a crisis the U.S. military experienced when many of its soldiers were diagnosed with syphilis
or gonorrhea
. The military undertook an extensive education campaign, focusing on abstinence, but also containing some contraceptive guidance. The military, under pressure from purity advocates, did not distribute condoms, or even endorse their use, making the U.S. the only military force in World War I that did not supply condoms to its troops. When U.S. soldiers were in Europe, they found rubber condoms readily available, and when they returned to America, they continued to use condoms as their preferred method of birth control.
The military's anti-venereal disease campaign marked a major turning point for the movement: it was the first time a government institution had engaged in a sustained, public discussion of sexual matters. The government's public discourse changed sex from a secretive topic into a legitimate topic of scientific research, and it transformed contraception from an issue of morals to an issue of public health.
(VPL). Both Dennett and Sanger proposed legislative changes that would legalize birth control, but they took different approaches: Sanger endorsed contraception but only under a physician's supervision; Dennett pushed for unrestricted access to contraception. Sanger, a proponent of diaphragms, was concerned that unrestricted access may result in ill-fitting diaphragms and may lead to medical quackery
. Dennett was concerned that requiring women to get prescriptions from physicians would prevent poor women from receiving contraception, and she was concerned about a shortage of physicians trained in birth control. The legislative initiatives of both activists failed, partly because some legislators felt that fear of pregnancy was the only thing that kept women chaste. In the early 1920s, Dennett's influence faded as Sanger continued to give frequent public lectures, and to publish essays in the Birth Control Review.
, police raided the meeting and arrested her for disorderly conduct. From the stage she shouted: "we have a right to hold [this meeting] under the Constitution .. let them club us if they want to." She was soon released. The following day it was revealed that the Catholic church had pressured the police to shut down the meeting. The Town Hall raid was a turning point for the movement: opposition from the government and medical community faded, and the Catholic church emerged as its most vocal opponent. After the conference, Sanger and her supporters established the American Birth Control League
(ABCL).
which permitted physicians to prescribe contraceptives, Sanger opened a second birth control clinic, which she staffed with physicians to make it legal under that court ruling (the first clinic employed nurses). This second clinic, the Clinical Research Bureau
(CRB), opened on January 2, 1923. To avoid police harassment the clinic's existence was not publicized; it operated under the guise of conducting scientific research. The existence of the clinic was finally announced to the public in December 1923, but this time there were no arrests or controversy. This convinced activists that, after ten years of struggle, birth control had finally become widely accepted in the United States. The CRB was the first legal birth control clinic in the United States, and quickly grew into the leading contraceptive research center in the world.
, and ushered in the emergence of a more sexually permissive society. Other factors that contributed to the new sexual norms included increased mobility brought by the automobile, anonymous urban lifestyles, and post-war euphoria. Sociologists who surveyed women in Muncie, Indiana
in 1925 found that all the upper class
women approved of birth control, and more than 80 percent of the working class
women approved. The birth rate in America declined 20 percent between 1920 and 1930, primarily due to increased use of birth control.
ed by the radio industry
.
The most significant opponent to birth control was the Catholic church, which mobilized opposition in many venues during the 1920s. Catholics persuaded the Syracuse city council to ban Sanger from giving a speech in 1924; the National Catholic Welfare Conference lobbied against birth control; the Knights of Columbus
boycotted hotels that hosted birth control events; the Catholic police commissioner of Albany prevented Sanger from speaking there; the Catholic mayor of Boston, James Curley
, blocked Sanger from speaking in public; and several newsreel
companies, succumbing to pressure from Catholics, refused to cover stories related to birth control. The ABCL turned some of the boycotted speaking events to their advantage by inviting the press, and the resultant news coverage often generated public sympathy for their cause. However, Catholic lobbying was particularly effective in the legislative arena, where their argumentsthat contraception was unnatural, harmful, and indecentfoiled several initiatives, including an attempt in 1924 by Mary Dennett to overturn federal anti-contraception laws.
Dozens of birth control clinics opened across the United States during the 1920s, but not without incident. In 1929, New York police raided a clinic in New York and arrested two doctors and three nurses for distributing contraceptive information that was unrelated to the prevention of disease. The ABCL achieved a major victory in the trial, when the judge ruled that use of contraceptives to space births farther apart was a legitimate medical treatment that benefited the health of the mother. The trial, in which many prominent physicians served as witnesses for the defense, brought a large segment of the medical community onto the side of birth control advocates.
Before the advent of the birth control movement, eugenics
had become very popular in Europe and the U.S., and the subject was widely discussed in articles, movies, and lectures. Eugenicists had mixed feelings about birth control: they worried that it would exacerbate the birth rate differential between "superior" races and "inferior" races, but they also recognized its value as a tool to improving racial fitness. Leaders of the birth control movement never considered eugenics to be their primary goal, focusing instead on free speech and women's rights, but around 1920 they started to make common cause with eugenicists, hoping to broaden the support base of the birth control movement. Eugenics buttressed the birth control movement's aims by correlating excessive births with increased poverty, crime, and disease. Sanger published two books in the early 1920s that endorsed eugenics: Woman and the New Race and The Pivot of Civilization. Sanger and other advocates endorsed negative eugenics (discouraging procreation of "inferior" persons), but did not advocate euthanasia or positive eugenics (encouraging procreation of "superior" persons). Many eugenicists refused to support the birth control movement because of Sanger's insistence that a woman's primary duty was to herself, not to the state.
Like many white Americans in the U.S. in the 1930s, some leaders of the birth control movement believed that lighter-skinned races were superior to darker-skinned races. They assumed that African American
s were intellectually backward, would be relatively incompetent with managing their own health, and would require special supervision from whites. The dominance of whites in the leadership and medical staff resulted in accusations of racism from blacks and suspicions that "race suicide" would be a consequence of large scale adoption of birth control. These suspicions were misinterpreted by some of the white birth control advocates as lack of interest in contraception.
In spite of these suspicions, many leaders in the African-American community supported efforts to supply birth control to the African-American community. In 1929, James H. Hubert
, a black social worker and leader of New York's Urban League, asked Sanger to open a clinic in Harlem
. Sanger secured funding from the Julius Rosenwald Fund and opened the clinic, staffed with African-American doctors, in 1930. The clinic was guided by a 15-member advisory board consisting of African-American doctors, nurses, clergy, journalists, and social workers. It was publicized in the African-American press and African-American churches, and received the approval of W. E. B. Du Bois, founder of the NAACP. In the early 1940s, the Birth Control Federation of America (BCFA) initiated a program called the Negro Project, managed by its Division of Negro Service (DNS). As with the Harlem clinic, the primary aim of the DNS and its programs was to improve maternal and infant health. Based on her work at the Harlem clinic, Sanger suggested to the DNS that African Americans were more likely to take advice from a doctor of their own race, but other leaders prevailed and insisted that whites be employed in the outreach efforts. The discriminatory actions and statements by the movement's leaders during the 1920s and 1930s have led to continuing allegations that the movement was racist.
legal ruling by Judge Augustus Hand
. His decision overturned an important provision of the anti-contraception laws that prohibited physicians from obtaining contraceptives. This court victory motivated the American Medical Association
in 1937 to finally adopt contraception as a normal medical service and a core component of medical school
curriculum
s. However, the medical community was slow to accept this new responsibility, and women continued to rely on unsafe and ineffective contraceptive advice from ill-informed sources until the 1960s.
By 1938, over 400 contraceptive manufactures were in business, over 600 brands of female contraceptives were available, and industry revenues exceeded $250 million per year. Condoms were sold in vending machine
s in some public restrooms, and men spent twice as much on condoms as on shaving. Although condoms had become commonplace in the 1930s, feminists in the movement felt that birth control should be the woman's prerogative, and they continued to push for development of a contraceptive that was under the woman's control, a campaign which ultimately led to the birth control pill decades later. To increase the availability of high-quality contraceptives, birth control advocates established the Holland–Rantos company to manufacture contraceptivesprimarily diaphragms, which were Sanger's recommended method. By the 1930s, the diaphragm with spermicidal jelly
had become the most commonly prescribed form of contraception; in 1938, female contraceptives accounted for 85 percent of annual contraceptive sales.
The 1936 One Package
court battle brought together two birth control organizationsthe ABCL and the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (formerly the CRB)who had joined forces to craft the successful defense effort. Leaders of both groups viewed this as an auspicious time to merge the two organizations, so, in 1937, the Birth Control Council of America
, under the leadership of Sanger, was formed to effect a consolidation. The effort eventually led to the merger of the two organizations in 1939 as the Birth Control Federation of America (BCFA). Although Sanger continued in the role of president, she no longer wielded the same power as she had in the early years of the movement, and, in 1942, more conservative forces within the organization changed the name to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a name Sanger objected to because she considered it too euphemistic. After World War II
, the leadership of Planned Parenthood de-emphasized radical feminism
and shifted focus to more moderate themes such as "family planning" and "population policy".
The movement to legalize birth control came to a gradual conclusion around the time Planned Parenthood was formed. In 1942, there were over 400 birth control organizations in America, contraception was fully embraced by the medical profession, and the anti-contraception laws (which still remained on the books) were rarely enforced.
and soon became the world's largest non-governmental international family planning organization. In 1952, John D. Rockefeller III
founded the influential Population Council
. Fear of global overpopulation
became a major issue in the 1960s, generating concerns about pollution
, food shortages, and quality of life
, leading to well-funded birth control campaigns around the world. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development
and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women
addressed birth control and influenced human rights declarations which asserted women's rights to control their own bodies.
In the U.S., a flurry of legal actions in the 1960s and 70s changed the landscape of reproductive rights: in 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut
that birth control was legal, in 1970, Congress finally removed references to contraception from federal anti-obscenity laws, and in 1973, the Roe v. Wade
decision legalized abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.
In addition to legal progress, the pharmaceutical industry steadily developed new modes of contraception. In the early 1950s, philanthropist Katharine McCormick
provided funding for biologist Gregory Pincus to develop the birth control pill, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) in 1960. In 1982, European drug manufacturers developed RU-486
, which induced abortion in pregnancies up to the fourth month. To avoid political controversy, the manufacturer donated the U.S. manufacturing rights to Danco Laboratories
, a company formed solely for the purpose of distributing RU-486 (and thus immune to antiabortion boycotts), and the FDA approved the drug in 2000. In 1997, the FDA approved a prescription emergency contraception
pill (known as the morning-after pill), which became available over the counter in 2006. In 2010, another emergency contraceptive
was approved which was effective up to five days after sex.
By the second half of the twentieth century, birth control was safe and available, and its legality was unquestioned. The birth control movement, which began in 1914 with the publication of The Woman Rebel, had achieved its goals. Women's rights advocates continued to fight for women's reproductive rights
, but their battleground shifted to the legality of abortion
.
Selected works from the birth control movement era
Contraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
legal in America. The movement began in 1914 when a group of radicals in New York City, led by Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
, Mary Dennett
Mary Dennett
Mary Coffin Ware Dennett was an American birth control activist and pacifist. She formed the Voluntary Parenthood League and the group lobbied until 1926 for a bill that would exempt birth control information and materials from federal censorship laws.In 1928 she was indicted under the Comstock...
, and Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
, became concerned about the plight of poor women, who often suffered due to frequent childbirth and self-induced abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
s. The targets of the activists were the Comstock laws, which outlawed the distribution of information about contraception, which was considered to be obscene. Hoping to provoke a favorable legal decision, Sanger deliberately broke the law by distributing The Woman Rebel, a newsletter containing a prohibited discussion of contraception. In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
clinic
Clinic
A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...
in the United States.
A major turning point for the movement came during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when many members of the U.S. military forces were diagnosed with venereal diseases. The resultant anti-venereal disease campaign was the first time a government institution had engaged in a sustained, public discussion of sexual matters. The government's public discourse changed sex from a secretive topic into a legitimate topic of scientific research, and also transformed contraception from an issue of morals to an issue of public health.
Encouraged by the public's changing attitudes towards birth control, Sanger opened a second birth control clinic in 1923, but this time there were no arrests or controversy. Throughout the 1920s, public discussion of contraception become more commonplace, and the phrase "birth control" became firmly established in the nation's vernacular. The widespread availability of contraception signaled the end of the prudish morality of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, and ushered in the emergence of a more sexually permissive society.
Legal victories in the 1930s
United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries
United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, 86 F.2d 737 , was an in rem United States Court of Appeals case in the Second Circuit involving birth control.-Background:...
continued to weaken the anti-contraception laws. The court victories motivated the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
in 1937 to adopt contraception as a core component of medical school curriculums, but the medical community was slow to accept this new responsibility, and women continued to rely on unsafe and ineffective contraceptive advice from ill-informed sources. In 1942, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America was formed, creating a nationwide network of birth control clinics. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the movement to legalize birth control came to a gradual conclusion, as birth control was fully embraced by the medical profession, and the remaining anti-contraception laws were no longer enforced.
Birth control practices
Prior to 1914, when the birth controlBirth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
movement in the U.S. began, the practice was common throughout the country, using longstanding techniques such as the rhythm method
Rhythm Method
Calendar-based methods are various methods of estimating a woman's likelihood of fertility, based on a record of the length of previous menstrual cycles. Various systems are known as the Knaus–Ogino Method, rhythm method, and Standard Days Method...
, withdrawal
Coitus interruptus
Coitus interruptus, also known as the rejected sexual intercourse, withdrawal or pull-out method, is a method of birth-control in which a man, during intercourse withdraws his penis from a woman's vagina prior to ejaculation...
, diaphragms
Diaphragm (contraceptive)
The diaphragm is a cervical barrier type of birth control. It is a soft latex or silicone dome with a spring molded into the rim. The spring creates a seal against the walls of the vagina.-Use:...
, contraceptive sponge
Contraceptive sponge
The contraceptive sponge combines barrier and spermicidal methods to prevent conception. Three brands are marketed: Pharmatex, Protectaid and Today. Pharmatex is marketed in France and the province of Quebec; Protectaid in the rest of Canada and Europe; and Today in the United States.Sponges work...
s, condoms, prolonged breast feeding
Lactational Amenorrhea Method
The lactational amenorrhea method is a method of avoiding pregnancies which is based on the natural postnatal infertility that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding...
, and spermicides. Use of contraceptives increased throughout the nineteenth century, causing the fertility rate
Total Fertility Rate
The total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
in the United States to drop by 50 percent between 1800 and 1900, particularly in urban regions.
Robert Dale Owen
Robert Dale Owen was a longtime exponent in his adopted United States of the socialist doctrines of his father, Robert Owen, as well as a politician in the Democratic Party.-Biography:...
in 1831. The book suggested that family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
was a laudable effort, and that sexual gratificationwithout the goal of reproductionwas not immoral. Owen recommended withdrawal, but he also discussed sponges and condoms. That book was followed by Fruits of Philosophy: The Private Companion of Young Married People, written in 1832 by Charles Knowlton
Charles Knowlton
Charles Knowlton was an American physician, atheist and writer.-Education:Knowlton was born May 10, 1800 in Templeton, Massachusetts. His parents were Stephen and Comfort Knowlton; his grandfather Ezekiel Knowlton, who was a Captain in the revolution and a longtime state legislator...
, which recommended douching. Knowlton was prosecuted in Massachusetts on obscenity
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
charges, and served three months in prison. Knowlton's book was reprinted in England by Charles Bradlaugh
Charles Bradlaugh
Charles Bradlaugh was a political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19th century. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866.-Early life:...
and Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...
, with the goal of challenging Britain's obscenity laws. They were arrested in 1877 (and later acquitted) but the publicity of their trial contributed to the formation, in 1877, of the Malthusian League
Malthusian League
The Malthusian League was a British organisation which advocated for the abolition of all penalties against public discussion of contraception and the education of the public about the importance of family planning. It was established in 1877 and was dissolved in 1927...
England's first birth control advocacy groupwhich sought to limit population growth to avoid the dire demographic predictions of Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent....
. Other similar organizations were soon created throughout Europe, leading to the establishment of the world's first birth control clinic
Clinic
A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...
in the Netherlands in 1882.
The only known survey conducted during the nineteenth century of American women's contraceptive habits was performed by Clelia Mosher from 1892 to 1912. The survey was based on a small sample of upper-class women, and shows that most of the women used contraception (primarily douching, but also withdrawal, rhythm, condoms and pessaries) and that they viewed sex as a pleasurable act that could be undertaken without the goal of procreation.
Contraception outlawed
Social purity movement
The social purity movement was a late nineteenth century social movement that sought to abolish prostitution and other sexual activities then considered immoral. Composed primarily of women, the movement was active in English-speaking nations from the late 1860s to about 1910, exerting an...
grew in strength, aimed at outlawing vice
Vice
Vice is a practice or a behavior or habit considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption...
in general, and prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and obscenity in particular. Composed primarily of Protestant moral reformers and middle-class women, the Victorian-era campaign also attacked contraception, which was viewed as an immoral
Victorian morality
Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria's reign and of the moral climate of the United Kingdom throughout the 19th century in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period...
practice which promoted prostitution and venereal disease. A leader of the purity movement was Anthony Comstock
Anthony Comstock
Anthony Comstock was a United States Postal Inspector and politician dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality.-Biography:...
, a postal inspector
United States Postal Inspection Service
The United States Postal Inspection Service is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. Its jurisdiction is defined as "crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S...
who successfully lobbied for the passage of the 1873 Comstock Act, a federal law prohibiting mailing of "any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
" as well as any form of contraceptive information. Many states also passed similar state laws (collectively known as the Comstock laws), sometimes extending the federal law by outlawing the use of contraceptives, as well as their distribution. Comstock was proud of the fact that he was personally responsible for thousands of arrests and the destruction of hundreds of tons of books and pamphlets.
Comstock and his allies also took aim at the libertarians and utopians who comprised the free love movement – an initiative to promote sexual freedom, equality for women, and abolition of marriage. The free love proponents were the only group to actively oppose the Comstock laws in the nineteenth century, setting the stage for the birth control movement.
The efforts of the free love movement were not successful and, at the beginning of the twentieth century, federal and state governments began to enforce the Comstock laws more rigorously. In response, contraception went underground, but it was not extinguished. Publications on the topic dwindled, and advertisements, if they were found at all, used euphemisms such as "marital aids" or "hygienic devices". Drug stores continued to sell condoms as "rubber goods" and cervical cap
Cervical cap
The cervical cap is a form of barrier contraception. A cervical cap fits over the cervix and blocks sperm from entering the uterus through the external orifice of the uterus, called the os.-Terminology:...
s as "womb supporters". At the turn of the century, the American government opposed contraception, but American couples continued to practice it.
Free speech movement
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, that sought to overturn bans on free speech. Supported by radicals, feminists, anarchists, and atheists such as Ezra Heywood
Ezra Heywood
Ezra Heywood was a 19th century North American individualist anarchist, slavery abolitionist, and feminist.-Philosophy:Heywood saw what he believed to be a disproportionate concentration of capital in the hands of a few as the result of a selective extension of government-backed privileges to...
, Moses Harman
Moses Harman
Moses Harman was an American schoolteacher and publisher notable for his staunch support for women's rights. He was prosecuted under the Comstock Law for content published in his anarchist periodical Lucifer the Lightbearer. He was arrested and jailed multiple times for publishing allegedly...
, D. M. Bennett
D. M. Bennett
DeRobigne Mortimer Bennett was the founder and publisher of The Truth Seeker, a radical freethought and reform American periodical. Bennett was a devout member of the Shakers for 13 years before evolving into a "freethinker", founding The Truth Seeker newspaper in 1873...
and Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
, these activists regularly battled anti-obscenity laws and, later, the government's effort to suppress speech critical of involvement in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Prior to 1914, the free speech movement focused on politics, and rarely addressed contraception.
Goldman's circle of radicals, socialists, and bohemians was joined in 1912 by a nurse, Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
, whose mother had been through 18 pregnancies in 22 years, and died at age 45 of tuberculosis and cervical cancer. In 1913, Sanger worked in New York's Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
, often with poor women who were suffering due to frequent childbirth and self-induced abortions. After one particularly tragic medical case, Sanger wrote: "I threw my nursing bag in the corner and announced ... that I would never take another case until I had made it possible for working women in America to have the knowledge to control birth." Sanger visited public libraries, searching for information on contraception, but nothing was available. She became outraged that working-class women could not obtain contraception, yet upper-class womenwho had access to private physicianscould.
Under the influence of Goldman and the Free Speech League
Free Speech League
The Free Speech League was a progressive organization in the United States, in the first two decades of the twentieth century, that fought to support freedom of speech in the early years of the twentieth century...
, Sanger became determined to challenge the Comstock laws that outlawed the dissemination of contraceptive information. With that goal in mind, in 1914 she launched The Woman Rebel, an eight-page monthly newsletter which promoted contraception using the slogan "No Gods, No Masters", and proclaimed that each woman should be "the absolute mistress of her own body." Sanger coined the term birth control, which first appeared in the pages of Rebel, as a more candid alternative to euphemisms such as family limitation.
Sanger's goal of challenging the law was fulfilled when she was indicted in August 1914, but the prosecutors focused their attention on articles Sanger had written on assassination and marriage, rather than contraception. Afraid that she might be sent to prison without an opportunity to argue for birth control in court, she fled to England under the alias Bertha Watson.
While Sanger was in Europe, her husband continued her work, but he was arrested when he distributed a copy of a birth control pamphlet to an undercover postal worker
United States Postal Inspection Service
The United States Postal Inspection Service is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. Its jurisdiction is defined as "crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S...
. The arrest and his 30 day jail sentence prompted several mainstream publications, including Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor...
and the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, to publish articles about the birth control controversy. Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman
Ben Reitman
Ben Lewis Reitman was an American anarchist and physician to the poor . He is best remembered today as radical Emma Goldman's lover.Reitman was a flamboyant, eccentric character...
toured the country, speaking in support of the Sangers, and distributing copies of Sanger's pamphlet Family Limitation. Sanger's exile and her husband's arrest propelled the birth control movement into the forefront of American news.
Early birth control organizations
In the spring of 1915 supporters of the Sangers, led by Mary DennettMary Dennett
Mary Coffin Ware Dennett was an American birth control activist and pacifist. She formed the Voluntary Parenthood League and the group lobbied until 1926 for a bill that would exempt birth control information and materials from federal censorship laws.In 1928 she was indicted under the Comstock...
, formed the National Birth Control League
National Birth Control League
The National Birth Control League was a birth control organization in the United States. It was founded in March 1915 by Mary Dennett, Clara Gruening Stillman and Jessie Ashley. Its main purpose was to overturn the laws which banned contraceptives from the U.S. mails...
(NBCL). This was the first American birth control organization. Throughout 1915, smaller regional organizations were formed in San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, and Los Angeles.
Sanger returned to the United States in October 1915. She planned to open a birth control clinic modeled on ones she had seen in Netherlands, but first had to fight the charges outstanding against her. Noted attorney Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
offered to defend Sanger free of charge but, bowing to public pressure, the government dropped the charges early in 1916. No longer under the threat of jail, Sanger embarked on a successful cross-country speaking tour, which catapulted her into the leadership of the U.S. birth control movement. Other leading figures, such as William J. Robinson
William J. Robinson
William Josephus Robinson was an American physician and birth control advocate. He was Chief of the department of Genito-Urinary Diseases at Bronx Hosptial Dispensary, and editor of the American Journal of Urology and Sexology...
and Mary Dennett, chose to work in the background, or turned their attention to other causes. Later in 1916, Sanger traveled to Boston to lend her support to the Massachusetts Birth Control League and to jailed birth control activist Van Kleeck Allison
Van Kleeck Allison
Van Kleek Allison was a birth control activist that worked in the birth control movement in the United States. He was arrested in Boston in July 1916, for handing out leaflets that described contraception, and sentenced to three years in prison. Allison was the child of a wealthy New York family,...
.
First birth control clinic
During Sanger's 1916 speaking tour, she promoted birth control clinics based on the Dutch model. Although she inspired many local communities to create birth control leagues, no clinics were established. Sanger therefore resolved to create a birth control clinic in New York that would provide free contraceptive services to women. New York state law prohibited the distribution of contraceptives or even contraceptive information, but Sanger hoped to exploit a provision in the law which permitted doctors to prescribe contraceptives for the prevention of disease. On October 16, 1916, she opened the Brownsville clinic in the Brooklyn borough of New York; it was an immediate success, with over 100 women visiting on the first day. A few days after opening, an undercover policewoman purchased a cervical capCervical cap
The cervical cap is a form of barrier contraception. A cervical cap fits over the cervix and blocks sperm from entering the uterus through the external orifice of the uterus, called the os.-Terminology:...
at the clinic, and Sanger was arrested. Refusing to walk, Sanger and a co-worker were dragged out of the clinic by police officers. The clinic was shut down, and it was not until 1923 that another birth control clinic was opened in the United States.
Sanger's trial began in January 1917. She was supported by a large number of wealthy and influential women who came together to form the Committee of One Hundred, devoted to raising funds for Sanger and the NBCL. The committee also started publishing the monthly journal Birth Control Review, and established a network of connections to powerful politicians, activists, and press figures. Despite the strong support, Sanger was convicted; the judge offered a lenient sentence if she promised to not break the law again, but Sanger replied "I cannot respect the law as it exists today." She was found guilty, and served a sentence of 30 days in jail.
Other activists were also pushing for progress. Emma Goldman was arrested in 1916 for circulating birth control information, and Abraham Jacobi
Abraham Jacobi
Abraham Jacobi was a pioneer of pediatrics, opening the first children's clinic in the United States. To date, he is the only foreign born president of the American Medical Association.-Biography:...
unsuccessfully tried to persuade the New York medical community to push for a change in law to permit physicians to dispense contraceptive information.
Going mainstream
The publicity from Sanger's trial generated immense enthusiasm for the cause, and by the end of 1917 there were over 30 birth control organizations in the United States. Sanger was always astute about public relations, and she seized on the publicity of the trial to advance her causes. After her trial, she emerged as the movement's most visible leader. Other leaders, such as William J. Robinson, Mary Dennett, and Blanche Ames AmesBlanche Ames Ames
Blanche Ames Ames was an artist, inventor, writer, and prominent supporter of women's suffrage and birth control. Born Blanche Ames in Lowell, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of Civil War General and Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames and Blanche Butler Ames and the sister of Adelbert Ames...
could not match Sanger's charisma, charm, and fervor.
The movement was evolving from a radical, working-class movement into a campaign backed by society women and liberal professionals. Sanger and her fellow advocates began to tone down their radical rhetoric and instead emphasized the socioeconomic benefits of birth control, a policy which led to increasing acceptance of the movement by mainstream Americans. Several silent motion pictures
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
produced in the 1910s featured birth control as a theme (including Birth Control
Birth Control (film)
Birth Control is a 1917 film produced by and starring Margaret Sanger and describing her family planning work...
, produced by Sanger and starring herself), and were representative of increasing media coverage of the topic.
Opposition to birth control remained strong. State governments stopped proposed laws that would legalize contraception or the distribution of contraceptive information. Religious leaders spoke out, assailing women who would choose "ease and fashion" over motherhood. Eugenicists were worried that birth control would exacerbate the birth rate differential between "old stock" white Americans and "coloreds" or immigrants.
Sanger formed the New York Woman's Publishing Company (NYWPC) in 1918 and, under its auspices, assumed the publisher's role for the Birth Control Review. British suffragette activist Kitty Marion
Kitty Marion
Kitty Marion was born in Westphalia, Germany in 1871. After moving to England, she became an actress and took the name Kitty Marion.-Life:...
, standing on New York street corners, sold the Review at 20 cents per copy, enduring death threats, heckling, spitting, physical abuse, and police harassment. Over the course of the following ten years, Marion was arrested nine times for her birth control advocacy.
Legal victory
Sanger appealed her 1917 conviction and won a mixed victory in 1918 when Judge Frederick E. CraneFrederick E. Crane
Frederick Evan Crane was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1935 to 1939.-Life:...
of the New York Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
upheld her conviction but issued a ruling that allowed doctors to prescribe contraception. This ruling was only binding within New York, where it opened the door for birth control clinics, under physician supervision, to be established. Sanger herself did not immediately take advantage of the opportunity, wrongly expecting that the medical profession would lead the way, and instead she chose to focus on writing and lecturing.
World War I and condoms
The birth control movement received an unexpected boost during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, as a result of a crisis the U.S. military experienced when many of its soldiers were diagnosed with syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
or gonorrhea
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
. The military undertook an extensive education campaign, focusing on abstinence, but also containing some contraceptive guidance. The military, under pressure from purity advocates, did not distribute condoms, or even endorse their use, making the U.S. the only military force in World War I that did not supply condoms to its troops. When U.S. soldiers were in Europe, they found rubber condoms readily available, and when they returned to America, they continued to use condoms as their preferred method of birth control.
The military's anti-venereal disease campaign marked a major turning point for the movement: it was the first time a government institution had engaged in a sustained, public discussion of sexual matters. The government's public discourse changed sex from a secretive topic into a legitimate topic of scientific research, and it transformed contraception from an issue of morals to an issue of public health.
Legislative efforts
During World War I, Mary Dennett focused her efforts on the peace movement, but returned to the birth control movement in 1918. She continued to lead the NBCL, and collaborated with Sanger's NYWPC. In 1919, Dennett published an educational pamphlet, The Sex Side of Life, which treated sex as a natural and enjoyable act and was widely distributed. However, in the same year, frustrated with the NBCL's chronic lack of funding, Dennett broke away and formed the Voluntary Parenthood LeagueVoluntary Parenthood League
The Voluntary Parenthood League was an organization that advocated for contraception during the birth control movement in the United States. The VPL was founded in 1919 by Mary Dennett. The VPL was a rival organization to Margaret Sanger's National Birth Control League. The VPL lobbied to...
(VPL). Both Dennett and Sanger proposed legislative changes that would legalize birth control, but they took different approaches: Sanger endorsed contraception but only under a physician's supervision; Dennett pushed for unrestricted access to contraception. Sanger, a proponent of diaphragms, was concerned that unrestricted access may result in ill-fitting diaphragms and may lead to medical quackery
Quackery
Quackery is a derogatory term used to describe the promotion of unproven or fraudulent medical practices. Random House Dictionary describes a "quack" as a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or...
. Dennett was concerned that requiring women to get prescriptions from physicians would prevent poor women from receiving contraception, and she was concerned about a shortage of physicians trained in birth control. The legislative initiatives of both activists failed, partly because some legislators felt that fear of pregnancy was the only thing that kept women chaste. In the early 1920s, Dennett's influence faded as Sanger continued to give frequent public lectures, and to publish essays in the Birth Control Review.
American Birth Control League
Although Sanger was busy publishing the Birth Control Review during the years 1919–1920, she was not formally affiliated with either of the major birth control organizations (NBCL or VPL) at that time. In 1921 she became convinced that she needed to associate with a formal body, to earn the support of professional societies and the scientific community. Rather than joining an existing organization, she considered creating a new one. As a first step, she set up the First American Birth Control Conference, held in November 1921 in New York City. On the final night of the conference, as Sanger prepared to give a speech in the crowded Town Hall theaterThe Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
, police raided the meeting and arrested her for disorderly conduct. From the stage she shouted: "we have a right to hold [this meeting] under the Constitution .. let them club us if they want to." She was soon released. The following day it was revealed that the Catholic church had pressured the police to shut down the meeting. The Town Hall raid was a turning point for the movement: opposition from the government and medical community faded, and the Catholic church emerged as its most vocal opponent. After the conference, Sanger and her supporters established the American Birth Control League
American Birth Control League
The American Birth Control League was founded by Margaret Sanger in 1921 at the First American Birth Control Conference in New York City. The League was incorporated under the laws of New York State on April 5, 1922. Its headquarters were located at 104 Fifth Avenue, New York City from 1921–30 and...
(ABCL).
Second birth control clinic
Four years after the 1918 New York appeals court ruling by judge Frederick E. CraneFrederick E. Crane
Frederick Evan Crane was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1935 to 1939.-Life:...
which permitted physicians to prescribe contraceptives, Sanger opened a second birth control clinic, which she staffed with physicians to make it legal under that court ruling (the first clinic employed nurses). This second clinic, the Clinical Research Bureau
Clinical Research Bureau
The Clinical Research Bureau was the first permanent birth control clinic in the United States. It was created as a result of the birth control movement in the United States, which fought against anti-contraception laws...
(CRB), opened on January 2, 1923. To avoid police harassment the clinic's existence was not publicized; it operated under the guise of conducting scientific research. The existence of the clinic was finally announced to the public in December 1923, but this time there were no arrests or controversy. This convinced activists that, after ten years of struggle, birth control had finally become widely accepted in the United States. The CRB was the first legal birth control clinic in the United States, and quickly grew into the leading contraceptive research center in the world.
Widespread acceptance
Following the successful opening of the CRB in 1923, public discussion of contraception become more commonplace, and the phrase "birth control" became firmly established in the nation's vernacular. Of the hundreds of references to birth control in magazines and newspapers of the 1920s, more than two thirds were favorable. The availability of contraception signaled the end of the prudish morality of the Victorian eraVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, and ushered in the emergence of a more sexually permissive society. Other factors that contributed to the new sexual norms included increased mobility brought by the automobile, anonymous urban lifestyles, and post-war euphoria. Sociologists who surveyed women in Muncie, Indiana
Middletown studies
The Middletown studies were sociological case studies of the City of Muncie in Indiana conducted by Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, husband-and-wife sociologists. The Lynds' findings were detailed in Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, published in 1929, and Middletown in...
in 1925 found that all the upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
women approved of birth control, and more than 80 percent of the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
women approved. The birth rate in America declined 20 percent between 1920 and 1930, primarily due to increased use of birth control.
Opposition
Although clinics became more common in the late 1920s, the movement still faced significant challenges. Large sectors of the medical community were still resistant to birth control, state and federal lawsthough generally not enforcedstill outlawed contraception. and birth control advocates were blacklistBlacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed by the radio industry
Radio industry
The "radio industry" is a generic term for any companies or public service providers who are involved with the broadcast of radio stations or ancillary services.Radio broadcasters can be broken into at least two different groups:...
.
The most significant opponent to birth control was the Catholic church, which mobilized opposition in many venues during the 1920s. Catholics persuaded the Syracuse city council to ban Sanger from giving a speech in 1924; the National Catholic Welfare Conference lobbied against birth control; the Knights of Columbus
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus....
boycotted hotels that hosted birth control events; the Catholic police commissioner of Albany prevented Sanger from speaking there; the Catholic mayor of Boston, James Curley
James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley was an American politician famous for his four terms as mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. He also served twice in the United States House of Representatives and one term as 53rd Governor of Massachusetts.-Early life:Curley's father, Michael Curley, left Oughterard, County...
, blocked Sanger from speaking in public; and several newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
companies, succumbing to pressure from Catholics, refused to cover stories related to birth control. The ABCL turned some of the boycotted speaking events to their advantage by inviting the press, and the resultant news coverage often generated public sympathy for their cause. However, Catholic lobbying was particularly effective in the legislative arena, where their argumentsthat contraception was unnatural, harmful, and indecentfoiled several initiatives, including an attempt in 1924 by Mary Dennett to overturn federal anti-contraception laws.
Dozens of birth control clinics opened across the United States during the 1920s, but not without incident. In 1929, New York police raided a clinic in New York and arrested two doctors and three nurses for distributing contraceptive information that was unrelated to the prevention of disease. The ABCL achieved a major victory in the trial, when the judge ruled that use of contraceptives to space births farther apart was a legitimate medical treatment that benefited the health of the mother. The trial, in which many prominent physicians served as witnesses for the defense, brought a large segment of the medical community onto the side of birth control advocates.
Eugenics and race
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
had become very popular in Europe and the U.S., and the subject was widely discussed in articles, movies, and lectures. Eugenicists had mixed feelings about birth control: they worried that it would exacerbate the birth rate differential between "superior" races and "inferior" races, but they also recognized its value as a tool to improving racial fitness. Leaders of the birth control movement never considered eugenics to be their primary goal, focusing instead on free speech and women's rights, but around 1920 they started to make common cause with eugenicists, hoping to broaden the support base of the birth control movement. Eugenics buttressed the birth control movement's aims by correlating excessive births with increased poverty, crime, and disease. Sanger published two books in the early 1920s that endorsed eugenics: Woman and the New Race and The Pivot of Civilization. Sanger and other advocates endorsed negative eugenics (discouraging procreation of "inferior" persons), but did not advocate euthanasia or positive eugenics (encouraging procreation of "superior" persons). Many eugenicists refused to support the birth control movement because of Sanger's insistence that a woman's primary duty was to herself, not to the state.
Like many white Americans in the U.S. in the 1930s, some leaders of the birth control movement believed that lighter-skinned races were superior to darker-skinned races. They assumed that African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s were intellectually backward, would be relatively incompetent with managing their own health, and would require special supervision from whites. The dominance of whites in the leadership and medical staff resulted in accusations of racism from blacks and suspicions that "race suicide" would be a consequence of large scale adoption of birth control. These suspicions were misinterpreted by some of the white birth control advocates as lack of interest in contraception.
James H. Hubert
James H. Hubert was a social worker and the Executive Secretary of the New York Urban League. In 1929, Hubert asked Margaret Sanger to open a birth control clinic in Harlem. He wrote for the periodical Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life"-Notes:...
, a black social worker and leader of New York's Urban League, asked Sanger to open a clinic in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. Sanger secured funding from the Julius Rosenwald Fund and opened the clinic, staffed with African-American doctors, in 1930. The clinic was guided by a 15-member advisory board consisting of African-American doctors, nurses, clergy, journalists, and social workers. It was publicized in the African-American press and African-American churches, and received the approval of W. E. B. Du Bois, founder of the NAACP. In the early 1940s, the Birth Control Federation of America (BCFA) initiated a program called the Negro Project, managed by its Division of Negro Service (DNS). As with the Harlem clinic, the primary aim of the DNS and its programs was to improve maternal and infant health. Based on her work at the Harlem clinic, Sanger suggested to the DNS that African Americans were more likely to take advice from a doctor of their own race, but other leaders prevailed and insisted that whites be employed in the outreach efforts. The discriminatory actions and statements by the movement's leaders during the 1920s and 1930s have led to continuing allegations that the movement was racist.
Expanding availability
Two important legal decisions in the 1930s helped increase the accessibility of contraceptives. In 1930, two condom manufacturers sued each other in the Youngs Rubber case, and the judge ruled that contraceptive manufacturing was a legitimate business enterprise. He went further, and declared that the federal law prohibiting the mailing of condoms was not legally sound. Sanger precipitated a second legal breakthrough when she ordered a diaphragm from Japan in 1932, hoping to provoke a decisive battle in the courts. The diaphragm was confiscated by the U.S. government, and Sanger's subsequent legal challenge led to the 1936 One PackageUnited States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries
United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, 86 F.2d 737 , was an in rem United States Court of Appeals case in the Second Circuit involving birth control.-Background:...
legal ruling by Judge Augustus Hand
Augustus Noble Hand
Augustus Noble Hand was an American judge who served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and later on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. His most notable rulings restricted the reach of obscenity statutes in the areas of literature and...
. His decision overturned an important provision of the anti-contraception laws that prohibited physicians from obtaining contraceptives. This court victory motivated the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
in 1937 to finally adopt contraception as a normal medical service and a core component of medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
s. However, the medical community was slow to accept this new responsibility, and women continued to rely on unsafe and ineffective contraceptive advice from ill-informed sources until the 1960s.
By 1938, over 400 contraceptive manufactures were in business, over 600 brands of female contraceptives were available, and industry revenues exceeded $250 million per year. Condoms were sold in vending machine
Vending machine
A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....
s in some public restrooms, and men spent twice as much on condoms as on shaving. Although condoms had become commonplace in the 1930s, feminists in the movement felt that birth control should be the woman's prerogative, and they continued to push for development of a contraceptive that was under the woman's control, a campaign which ultimately led to the birth control pill decades later. To increase the availability of high-quality contraceptives, birth control advocates established the Holland–Rantos company to manufacture contraceptivesprimarily diaphragms, which were Sanger's recommended method. By the 1930s, the diaphragm with spermicidal jelly
Spermicide
Spermicide is a contraceptive substance that eradicates sperm, inserted vaginally prior to intercourse to prevent pregnancy. As a contraceptive, spermicide may be used alone. However, the pregnancy rate experienced by couples using only spermicide is higher than that of couples using other methods...
had become the most commonly prescribed form of contraception; in 1938, female contraceptives accounted for 85 percent of annual contraceptive sales.
Planned Parenthood organization
The 1936 One Package
United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries
United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, 86 F.2d 737 , was an in rem United States Court of Appeals case in the Second Circuit involving birth control.-Background:...
court battle brought together two birth control organizationsthe ABCL and the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (formerly the CRB)who had joined forces to craft the successful defense effort. Leaders of both groups viewed this as an auspicious time to merge the two organizations, so, in 1937, the Birth Control Council of America
Birth Control Council of America
The Birth Control Council of America was a short-lived organization that was established 1937 to reconcile the activities of the American Birth Control League and the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau . The goal was to reduce redundancy, improve cooperation, and discuss the future of the ...
, under the leadership of Sanger, was formed to effect a consolidation. The effort eventually led to the merger of the two organizations in 1939 as the Birth Control Federation of America (BCFA). Although Sanger continued in the role of president, she no longer wielded the same power as she had in the early years of the movement, and, in 1942, more conservative forces within the organization changed the name to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a name Sanger objected to because she considered it too euphemistic. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the leadership of Planned Parenthood de-emphasized radical feminism
Radical feminism
Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that "male supremacy" oppresses women...
and shifted focus to more moderate themes such as "family planning" and "population policy".
The movement to legalize birth control came to a gradual conclusion around the time Planned Parenthood was formed. In 1942, there were over 400 birth control organizations in America, contraception was fully embraced by the medical profession, and the anti-contraception laws (which still remained on the books) were rarely enforced.
After World War II
After World War II, birth control advocacy took on a global aspect, as organizations around the world began to collaborate. In 1946, Sanger helped found the International Committee on Planned Parenthood, which evolved into the International Planned Parenthood FederationInternational Planned Parenthood Federation
The International Planned Parenthood Federation is a global non-governmental organization with the broad aims of promoting sexual and reproductive health, and advocating the right of individuals to make their own choices in family planning. It was first formed in 1952 in Bombay, India, and now...
and soon became the world's largest non-governmental international family planning organization. In 1952, John D. Rockefeller III
John D. Rockefeller 3rd
John Davison Rockefeller 3rd was a major philanthropist and third-generation member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the eldest son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the grandson of John D. Rockefeller...
founded the influential Population Council
Population Council
The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The Council conducts biomedical, social science, and public health research and helps build research capacities in developing countries. One-third of its research relates to HIV and AIDS; its other major program...
. Fear of global overpopulation
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
became a major issue in the 1960s, generating concerns about pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
, food shortages, and quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
, leading to well-funded birth control campaigns around the world. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development
International Conference on Population and Development
The United Nations coordinated an International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt from 5–13 September 1994. Its resulting Program of Action is the steering document for the United Nations Population Fund ....
and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women
Fourth World Conference on Women
The United Nations convened the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace on 4-15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. 189 governments and more than 5,000 representatives from 2,100 non-governmental organizations participated in the Conference...
addressed birth control and influenced human rights declarations which asserted women's rights to control their own bodies.
In the U.S., a flurry of legal actions in the 1960s and 70s changed the landscape of reproductive rights: in 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut
Griswold v. Connecticut
Griswold v. Connecticut, , was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives...
that birth control was legal, in 1970, Congress finally removed references to contraception from federal anti-obscenity laws, and in 1973, the Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
decision legalized abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.
In addition to legal progress, the pharmaceutical industry steadily developed new modes of contraception. In the early 1950s, philanthropist Katharine McCormick
Katharine McCormick
Katharine Dexter McCormick was a U.S. biologist, suffragist, philanthropist and, after her husband's death, heir to a substantial part of the McCormick family fortune...
provided funding for biologist Gregory Pincus to develop the birth control pill, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) in 1960. In 1982, European drug manufacturers developed RU-486
Mifepristone
Mifepristone is a synthetic steroid compound used as a pharmaceutical. It is a progesterone receptor antagonist used as an abortifacient in the first months of pregnancy, and in smaller doses as an emergency contraceptive. During early trials, it was known as RU-38486 or simply RU-486, its...
, which induced abortion in pregnancies up to the fourth month. To avoid political controversy, the manufacturer donated the U.S. manufacturing rights to Danco Laboratories
Danco Laboratories
Danco Laboratories is an LLC which was incorporated in 1995. Danco has a license from the Population Council to distribute the drug mifepristone, under the brand name Mifeprex. Mifeprex is the only drug distributed by Danco. The offices of Danco are in New York City, and are under an unlisted phone...
, a company formed solely for the purpose of distributing RU-486 (and thus immune to antiabortion boycotts), and the FDA approved the drug in 2000. In 1997, the FDA approved a prescription emergency contraception
Emergency contraception
Emergency contraception , or emergency postcoital contraception, refers to birth control measures that, if taken after sexual intercourse, may prevent pregnancy.Forms of EC include:...
pill (known as the morning-after pill), which became available over the counter in 2006. In 2010, another emergency contraceptive
Ulipristal acetate
Ulipristal acetate is a selective progesterone receptor modulator for emergency contraception within 120 hours after an unprotected intercourse or contraceptive failure...
was approved which was effective up to five days after sex.
By the second half of the twentieth century, birth control was safe and available, and its legality was unquestioned. The birth control movement, which began in 1914 with the publication of The Woman Rebel, had achieved its goals. Women's rights advocates continued to fight for women's reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
, but their battleground shifted to the legality of abortion
Abortion debate
The abortion debate refers to discussion and controversy surrounding the moral and legal status of abortion. The two main groups involved in the abortion debate are the self-described "pro-choice" movement and the "pro-life" movement...
.
See also
- History of condomsHistory of condomsThe history of condoms goes back at least several centuries, and perhaps beyond. For most of their history, condoms have been used both as a method of birth control, and as a protective measure against sexually transmitted diseases...
- Human sexualityHuman sexualityHuman sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
- Sex educationSex educationSex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
- Timeline of reproductive rights legislationTimeline of reproductive rights legislationTimeline of reproductive rights legislation, a chronological list of laws and legal decisions affecting human reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are a sub-set of human rights pertaining to issues of reproduction and reproductive health...
- Women's suffrage in the United States
Further Reading
- Coates, Patricia Walsh (2008), Margaret Sanger and the origin of the birth control movement, 1910–1930: the concept of women's sexual autonomy, Edwin Mellen Press, ISBN 9780773450998.
- Goldman, EmmaEmma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
(1931), Living My Life, Knopf, ISBN 9780879050962 (1982 reprint). - Knowlton, CharlesCharles KnowltonCharles Knowlton was an American physician, atheist and writer.-Education:Knowlton was born May 10, 1800 in Templeton, Massachusetts. His parents were Stephen and Comfort Knowlton; his grandfather Ezekiel Knowlton, who was a Captain in the revolution and a longtime state legislator...
, (1832), The Fruits of Philosophy, or the Private Companion of Young Married People, 1891 Bradlaugh-Besant Reprint (Google books) - Owen, Robert DaleRobert Dale OwenRobert Dale Owen was a longtime exponent in his adopted United States of the socialist doctrines of his father, Robert Owen, as well as a politician in the Democratic Party.-Biography:...
(1831), Moral physiology, or A brief and plain treatise on the population question, 1842 edition, (Google books) - Rosen, Robyn L. (2003), Reproductive health, reproductive rights: reformers and the politics of maternal welfare, 1917–1940, Ohio State University Press, ISBN 9780814209202.
- Sanger, Margaret (1938), An Autobiography, Cooper Square Press, ISBN 0815410158.
Selected works from the birth control movement era
- Bocker, Dorothy (1924), Birth Control Methods, BCCRB.
- Davis, Katharine Bement (1922), "A Study of the Sex Life of the Normal Married Woman", Journal of Social Hygiene 8 (April, 1922): 173–89.
- Dennett, MaryMary DennettMary Coffin Ware Dennett was an American birth control activist and pacifist. She formed the Voluntary Parenthood League and the group lobbied until 1926 for a bill that would exempt birth control information and materials from federal censorship laws.In 1928 she was indicted under the Comstock...
(1926), Birth Control Laws: Shall We Keep Them, Abolish Them, or Change Them?, Frederick H. Hitchcock. - Dennett, Mary (1919), The Sex Side of Life, published by author. 1919 edition, Google books
- Dickinson, Robert LatouRobert Latou DickinsonRobert Latou Dickinson was an American obstetrician and gynecologist, surgeon, maternal health educator, artist, sculptor and medical illustrator, and research scientist.-Life:...
(1942), Techniques of Contraception Control, Williams & Wilkins. - Sanger, MargaretMargaret SangerMargaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
( (1914), Family Limitation, a 16 page pamphlet; also published in several later editions. 1917, 6th edition, Michigan State University - Sanger, Margaret (1922), The Pivot of Civilization, Brentanos. 1922 edition, Project Gutenberg; 1922 edition, Google Books
- Sanger, Margaret (1916), What Every Girl Should Know, Max N. Maisel; 91 pages; also published in several later editions. 1920 edition, Michigan State University; 1922 edition, Michigan State University
- Sanger, Margaret (1911), What Every Mother Should Know, Based on a series of articles Sanger published in 1911 in the New York CallNew York CallThe New York Call was a socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The Call was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America to be established, following the Chicago Daily Socialist while preceding the long running...
, which were, in turn, based on a set of lectures Sanger gave to groups of Socialist party women in 1910–11. Multiple editions published through the 1920s, by Max N. Maisel and Sincere Publishing, with the title What Every Mother Should Know, or how six little children were taught the truth. 1921 edition, Michigan State University - Sanger, Margaret (1920), Woman and the New Race, Truth Publishing, forward by Havelock Ellis. Harvard University, Project Gutenberg, Google Books
- Stone, Hannah (1925), Contraceptive MethodsA Clinical Survey, ABCL.