Margaret sanger did what?

Answer 1

She was an activist who advocated that all women had the right to be educated about their bodies. But she was much more than that. She was a radical in her day as she would be considered a radical today. She hated the poor and the burden of the black population and the mentally ill. While her beginnings may have been well intended, it is difficult for anyone to argue that she was anything but a self-centered seeker of power over life and death.

She was a public nurse starting in 1912 and wrote a NY Times column "What every girl should know." This detailed facts about how a woman's body works and basic contraception information. She was sent to jail for violating the law.

She was a racist and she did speak in favor of preventing "the feeble-minded" from reproducing. She specifically stated several times that any women "who are the best of their race", in the context of all races, need to be educated and able to be and do the best for the children they choose to have. So she was quite generous to women who were the "best of their race" but if they had some sort of defect such as big ears, they would be better off aborted. Still there is no way to gloss over the fact that she despised the poor and blacks as she attended KKK events and supported their cause.

She was the founder of Planned Parenthood.

In 1921 Sanger established the Planned Parenthood Foundation, which was originally named the American Birth Control League but changed because of her association with Hitler and the eugenics movement. She persisted to work with clinics and to help raise awareness and money for her cause. She founded the Birth Control Review in 1917. Then in 1937 both the disbursement of contraceptive material through the mail and birth control as a legitimate medical aid were legalized. Her crusade lasted until her death in 1966, but the debate she sparked on birth control still exists.

One can know much more about her by her words from her many writings which only an uneducated person would ignore:

On the rights of the handicapped and mentally ill, and racial minorities:

"More children from the fit, less from the unfit -- that is the chief aim of birth control." Birth Control Review, May 1919, p. 12

On respecting the rights of the mentally ill:

In her "Plan for Peace," Sanger outlined her strategy for eradication of those she deemed "feebleminded." Among the steps included in her evil scheme were Immigration restrictions; compulsory sterilization; segregation to a lifetime of farm work; etc. Birth Control Review, April 1932, p. 107

On eradicating 'bad stocks':

The goal of eugenicists is "to prevent the multiplication of bad stocks," wrote Dr. Ernst Rudin in the April 1933 Birth Control Review (of which Sanger was editor). Another article exhorted Americans to "restrict the propagation of those physically, mentally and socially inadequate."

On the extermination of blacks:

"We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population," she said, "if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." Woman's Body, Woman's Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America, by Linda Gordon

On the right of married couples to bear children:

Couples should be required to submit applications to have a child, she wrote in her "Plan for Peace." Birth Control Review, April 1932

"The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."

Margaret Sanger, Women and the New Race

On mandatory sterilization of the poor:

One of Sanger's greatest influences, sexologist/eugenicist Dr. Havelock Ellis (with whom she had an affair, leading to her divorce from her first husband), urged mandatory sterilization of the poor as a prerequisite to receiving any public aid. The Problem of Race Regeneration, by Havelock Ellis, p. 65, in Margaret Sanger: Father of Modern Society, p. 18. Ellis believed that any sex was acceptable, as long as it hurt no one. The Sage of Sex, A Life of Havelock Ellis, by Arthur Calder-Marshall, p. 88

On adultery:

A woman's physical satisfaction was more important than any marriage vow, Sanger believed. Birth Control in America, p. 11

On marital sex:

"The marriage bed is the most degenerating influence in the social order," Sanger said. (p. 23) [Quite the opposite of God's view on the matter: "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." (Hebrews 13:4)

Sanger is a questionable hero and her movement suspect. Her eugenics dream of limiting populations of the poor and non white races lives on at PPH today. Why do the wealthy, large corporations and the government fund large Planned Parenthood facilities in black and Hispanic city neighborhoods to this day? Why are so few adoptions recommended? Why do the wealthy populate PPH boards?

Answer 2

Margaret Sanger was a birth control advocate during the first half of the 20th century. This did not mean that she was a eugenicist; rather, she wanted to prevent unwanted pregnancies because many women already could not support their families. She began her advocacy after an impoverished woman died in her arms after the woman tried to give herself an abortion. She helped create resources for the medical development of the first birth control pill.

She went to jail to fight for every woman's right to know how her body functioned and to have safe and legal access to birth control. In her time, the diaphragm was the preferred method.

Margaret Sanger is often vilified as a eugenicist. Eugenics was very popular at the turn of the 20th century and many, many white people bought into some level of it's message. Sanger identified as a "Positive Eugenicist". She believed that the best of all groups should be encouraged to reproduced and that others, especially the mentally disabled, should not.

Much of her work has been redefined by the anti-choice movement to show her as a eugenicist on the level of Hitler. This is incorrect. Yes, she thought that forced sterilization for the "feebleminded" should be done. She states in her writings that all races carry great potential and that women who were " the best of their race" should be encouraged to reproduce.
These were Margaret Sangers accomplishments. In 1921 Sanger established the Planned Parenthood Foundation, which was originally named the American Birth Control League. She persisted to work with clinics and to help raise awareness and money for her cause. She founded the Birth Control Review in 1917. Then in 1937 both the disbursement of contraceptive material through the mail and birth control as a legitimate medical aid were legalized. Her crusade lasted until her death in 1966, but the debate she sparked on birth control still exists.

One thing she did NOT accomplish, thankfully, was the successful implementation of the Negro Project which would bring birth control to the black community in NY:

www.blackgenocide.org/negro.html

More about Sanger in the related link below.

Answer 3

Margaret Sanger (September 14, 1879 - September 6, 1966) founded the American Birth Control League which eventually became Planned Parenthood. Sanger gradually won support for getting women access to contraception. She was also helping making the birth control pill.

She was also a eugenicist and racist, who wanted to use contraceptives to thin out the "undesirables" in the American population: blackgenocide.org/negro.html

Answer 4

Founded Planned Parenthood. She was one of the greatest advocates for women's rights and health of her time!