Latha Karne
February 18, 2014
H Block
3rd Quarter Research Project
Birth control was such a
controversial topic in the late 19th and early 20th century. This was such a
controversial topic because people believed that birth control shouldn't be
allowed to be used because it was against the bible. Others believed that it should
be used because women should have the right to pleasure in marriage and not
have the burden of children.
In the progressive era,
many women were beginning to want to have a place in society and be
able to speak up for themselves. However, they were being held back because
they had to stay at home and take care of their children. The beliefs behind
the movement were that women were dying because they were giving birth to many
children and that weakened their bodies (the average number of babies a child
had in the 1800s was 7 babies). Over time, women became creative and began to
use home remedies and abstinence to resist sex. Also, women would marry late or
not marry at all to postpone having children.
Margaret Sanger was a huge activist for the birth control movement during the progressive era. She worked as a nurse and saw many mothers die during pregnancies because their last pregnancies left them too weak. She also saw her own mother die at a young age and blamed it on the fact that her mother went through 18 pregnancies, which is not healthy for any women. Sanger also saw large families in poverty who did not have the financial ability to take care of another child, yet they still had more children because there was nothing they could do about it. Other mothers who could handle another child would self abort. Margaret Sanger said, “Most of us are brought into this world by accident and that is exactly what birth control is going to change. That is going to make humanity a conscious and voluntary thing…” I want to relate this quote to the picture below of the woman holding up a sign saying, Mother by Choice. This is monumental because it allowed to women to have a say about when they are ready to have a child. It gave women more of say and more control. At this point, marriage was very male-dominant, in that what the father said goes. Women were seeking a “companionate” marriage.
Margaret Sanger was the
voice of this campaign. When she started campaigning for the right to
distribute birth control and give knowledge to people about the importance of
birth control, she was arrested for breaking the Comstock Law. The Comstock Law
was created in the 1870s and prevented the spreading or birth control
information or devices. This law was created because people believed that birth
control is immoral. He said that God made women to bear children and that by using
birth control, women were going against God and committing a sin. Also, at this
point in time, sex was only seen as a means for procreation and not for
pleasure within a marriage and that was a belief that Sanger and her colleagues
were trying to fix. Another argument against the birth control movement was
that it was selfish and limiting families. It was depriving the nation of a
future workforce ad that the Upper Class should definitely not use it because
they had desirable traits that needed to be passed on.
Dr. Charles Knowlton, a
doctor in Massachusetts, used the work from other proponents of the birth
control movement and set out to find a new method for birth control. He
believed that there were some cheap, convenient, and harmless methods which shouldn’t
interfere with the enjoyment. They were able to use rubber to create a method
for birth control, called condoms. However, the proponents were not successful
in the persuasion aspect of this innovation process because they American
population was not ready to hear about sex in a pleasurable way.
Margaret Sanger began
working to spread the word on birth control, and through this coined the phrase,
“birth control.” She published newspaper columns that got shut down, and also
printed a newsletter called, “The Women Rebel” that ended up getting shut down.
Then, Sanger was arrested for violating the Comstock Law. She fled to England
instead of facing charges and while in England, studied the birth control
movement that England had gone through. She also traveled around Europe,
learning about their contraceptive methods. Sanger returned to the US and
opened up a clinic called the New York Birth Control League. Sanger and her
colleague Bryne were arrested for opening the clinic and distributing
information and devices for birth control. However, during their trial, one
judge, Judge Crane, said that Sanger was not breaking the law. The New York Law
stated that, “an article or instrument, used or applied by physicians lawfully practicing,
or by their direction or prescription for the cure or prevention of disease, is
not an article of indecent or immoral nature to use, within this article.” He
also defined disease as, “an alteration in the state of the body…causing
threatening pain or sickness.” This means that preganancy is considered a
disease and physicians could talk about contraception and contraceptive methods
with married couples. Sanger then opened up a birth control clinic and staffed
it with 40 doctors.
However, Archbishop
Patrick Hayes, an opponent to the birth control movement, had Sanger and her colleagues
and staff at the clinic arrested. He was a member of the church and did was
Sanger called, “barricaded himself behind the bible.” This got the sympathy
from the doctors and the judge ended siding with the physicians, saying they
had the right to privately discuss contraception with married couples.
I think the innovation
of the birth control movement was successful in the progressive era. Sanger
communicated with the public, collaborated with doctors and other women (some
are shown in the picture below), and tried to persuade the American people
about the importance of birth control. However, this was not a successful reform
until the 1950s and 1960s. At the time of the progressive era, the American public
was not ready to hear about sex being used for pleasure in a romantic love. The
American public was still in the mindset that sex is a way to procreate and
that if that is not the case, then it is against the bible. God created women
to procreate (as said in the Bible) and raise the future men and women, and if
that was not happening, then sins are being committed. However, Sanger was
successful in the area of communication because she spoke directly to the women
who were suffering and related to the women, and collaborated with women to get
the movement to go. If it was not for Sanger’s determination along with her
communication, collaboration, and persuasion, this movement would have been
successful in US History. This movement during the progressive era laid the
foundation for the success of the moment in the 1950s and 1960s.
Pictures:
Sources:
This
website was useful because it allowed me to see the history behind the controversy
over birth control and what organizations were started. It also gave me search
terms with organizations that are directly linked to the progressive era
because the name of the organization changed after the progressive era.
This
website was useful because it gave me multiple views on the controversy over
Birth Control. It gave the arguments of Michael P. Dowling, Winter Russell, and
Margaret Sanger. Michael P. Dowling was against the birth control pill and
Winter Russell and Margaret Sanger for pro-birth control for different reasons.
Reading these opinions helped me see how people were persuaded because there
were different reasons to be pro-birth control. Also, it gave me Michael P.
Dowling’s opinion and seeing the opposition and what they believed and why they
wouldn’t be pro-birth control.
The
textbook was useful because it gave me an overview of the birth control
movement. It also told me one of the causes for the controversy on birth
control and how it was due to the fact that people began to change their belief
on the purpose of sex and that it was a pleasurable experience and a way to
celebrate love instead of thinking of sex as a way for procreation.
This
website was useful because it gave me an overlook into the history of birth
control and also told me who Margaret Sanger collaborated with. It also showed
me another reason as to why Sanger was so pro-birth control.
This
was a useful source because it was a primary source and allowed me to read one
of Sanger’s first speeches and see the evidence and the horrific numbers that
are part of infant deaths.
This
website was useful because it was an article and let me see the entire story
from beginning to end on the birth control and Margaret Sanger’s role in the
movement. It was also a good source for pictures.
