Margaret Sanger is a popular birth control and sex educator, a social activist, as well as a nurse attributed to the “birth control” term, which has gained tremendous recognition among U.S. citizens. She was born in 1879 a time when contraceptives were regarded as illegal under the Comstock Act, while believing that the major way of instituting reforms to the law was breaking it. During the 1910s, Sanger challenged the state Comstock and federal laws to ensure that women gained access to contraceptives and information on birth control. The keen ambition that Sanger portrayed aimed ensuring that women gained access to the ideal contraceptive that would relieve women from the challenges associated with unwanted and repeated pregnancies (Biography, 2018) . In this case, it is evident that Sanger facilitated in legalizing contraception within the U.S. despite the diverse criticism that she encountered in her endeavors. Furthermore, she supported eugenics, which revolved around the idea that every woman had equal rights in the same manner as men in choosing when to have children. According to Sanger, women had the right of protesting against dangerous abortions. She established the American Birth Control League, which she served as the president for its global chapter for several years. The initial clinic that offered birth control services comprised of only females, which she supervised in New York. Additionally, she founded the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control, which led to legalization of contraception within the U.S. (Malveaux, 2018) . Even though Sanger died many years ago, she serves as the originator, patron, as well as iconic symbol of the contemporary birth control.
For Margaret Sanger’s contributions, they are associated with certain benefits, while her legacy has been subjected to certain pitfalls. On the benefits, Sanger contributed to advancements in medicine concerning women’s health, women’s rights, and abortion. She commenced her campaigns teaching women concerning education in 1912 when she composed an article in newspapers referred to as “What Every Girl Should Know.” The article allowed women to gain significant understanding about their health, their rights to birth control, and the dangers associated with carrying out unsafe abortions among other issues (Malveaux, 2018) . Additionally, when poor immigrants dominated the Lower East Side, she served as a nurse where she treated many women who had tried terminating pregnancies on their own and or those who had exercised back-alley abortions. Sanger complained about the unnecessary that the women faced, leading her to fight to ensure that they gained information regarding contraceptives and birth control. She also raised the idea of the “magic pill,” which would assist in controlling pregnancy. She stipulated that no woman would consider herself free if she would not make the decision of whether or not to be a mother consciously (Biography, 2018) . In 1916, Sanger opened the initial birth control clinic in the country, which targeted addressing the diverse health requirements of women. During the rest of her years, worked tirelessly to establish the rights of women to control their body and decide whether they needed children. In 1921, Sanger established the American Birth Control League, which preceded the present day’s Planned Parenthood (PBS, 2018) . This served as a major milestone toward ensuring that women received quality healthcare.
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The impact that Sanger has had on the current society is significant. She has made it possible for women to regulate fertility while at the same time allowing to access contraceptives. In this case, women are capable of controlling diverse life options, especially those related to employment, education, and other areas that would feel the impact of bearing a child (Kizior, 2016) . A reminder that has come recently regarding the impact that Sanger had on society prevailed when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) argued that discriminating individuals based on sex was illegal (Malveaux, 2018) . This is especially when organizations failed to include prescription contraceptives from health benefits plans. The efforts by Sanger to avail prescription serve as the major forces that drive the need for offering prescription contraceptives’ access in line with other prescriptions related to women’s health. When looking at the contributions by Sanger, therefore, it becomes apparent that she was devoted toward improving the overall health wellbeing of women (Kizior, 2016) . She advocated for the rights of women to gain access to contraceptives and information related to birth control while at the same time providing them with an avenue of exercising safe abortions to avoid harming their health.
Nonetheless, despite the tremendous contribution that Sanger made to improve the health of women in line with allowing them to have rights to contraceptives and birth control information, she received several criticisms. The criticism levelled against Sanger mostly revolved around eugenics concept. Eugenics refers to a science branch targeting improving human species via facilitating selective mating. Sanger argued that women should have the opportunity of having children who do not have diseases and free from poverty. She stipulated that women served as natural eugenics, while birth control, which had the capacity of restricting the number of kids and boosting life quality, would facilitate in realizing the initiative. Sanger also supported certain views that prevailed at the time, although presently appear abhorrent, such as supporting the sterilization of the mentally impaired and ill individuals. Even while Sanger argued each child needed to be a wanted one, her argument raised controversial comments, especially those related to the value of human life (Latson, 2016) . Regarding Sanger’s contributions, therefore, it is evident that she made a significant contribution toward making sure that the health of women improved tremendously by serving as a catalyst for change, although her support for eugenics serves as of the major areas that contributed to her pitfall.
References
Biography. (2018). Margaret Sanger biography. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/margaret-sanger-9471186
Kizior, M. (2016). Why is Margaret Sanger still relevant today? Retrieved from https://www.all.org/why-is-margaret-sanger-still-relevant-today/
Latson, J. (2016). What Margaret Sanger really said about eugenics and race. Retrieved from http://time.com/4081760/margaret-sanger-history-eugenics/
Malveaux, J. (2018). Sanger’s legacy is reproductive freedom and racism. Retrieved from https://womensenews.org/2001/07/sangers-legacy-reproductive-freedom-and-racism/
PBS. (2018). Margaret Sanger (1879-1966). Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-margaret-sanger-1879-1966/
