Catholic Corner, Margaret Sanger's Legacy, The Birth Control Movementby Bolder Landry
As I began my plan for this article, the newspapers and television announced to the world the death of Burt Lancaster. His name was a household word, and a heart attack ended his 50-year movie career of make-believe. By contrast, does the name Margaret Sanger ring a bell? A leader of real-life humanitarian social action, she was a cause célèbre with her birth control movement in America and Europe for 50 years. During those dangerous years Mrs. Sanger was never glorified and acclaimed for her many accomplishments, not even for her enlightening book Woman Rebel. There was no Oscar or Emmy night to give her recognition. Her personal heroic story lies scattered in a few books. I want to enlighten the reader about this remarkable woman who led a fight for an unpopular cause in a world dominated by men and religion. She wrote, "No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body." She was even forced to flee the United States at one time to avoid arrest for publishing information about birth control. This information is available today, thanks to this courageous woman. Margaret Sanger was born in Corning, New York in 1883. With her husband and three children she arrived in New York City in 1910. She soon become an activist with the Socialist movement which embraced the cause of women's suffrage. Her wish to become a doctor was beyond her economic reach: instead, she became a nurse. A great awakening occurred to her while she was working with immigrant women in New York's lower east side. In her care was a pregnant immigrant woman who died as the result of a self-induced abortion. That was the turning point in Sanger's career. She now saw degradation and despair wrought of ignorance, poverty, pregnancy, abortion, child abandonment and child labor. (Woman of Valor, p. 62.) She had lectured earlier, evoking the plight and pathos of the poor immigrant women. She now wrote for the CALL on sex education and health, a very provocative action for women in those days. Margaret opened her first birth control clinic in New York in 1916. She was arrested and convicted of a crime. The Comstock Law and the Catholic Church were always at her heels. Margaret Sanger battled the U.S. government and the Roman Catholic church for decades over the issue of birth control before it was considered legitimate enough for a hearing. "Fifty years ago, what opposition I had, the law, the police, the government, even my father," she wrote. In spite of the dogged opposition her successes are noteworthy. 1. She was the first to openly teach birth control. 2. Launched her own newspaper, WOMAN REBEL, with the slogan, "No Gods, No Masters." 3. Was the architect of the Planned Parenthood organization. 4. Was first to incorporate the American Birth Control League, according to law, in 1923. For these activities she was imprisoned eight times. On circuit tours she crisscrossed the country, addressing forums, women's groups and college campuses, to packed audiences. Everywhere Mrs. Sanger was the brave and defiant clarion call of free speech and free thinking. These accomplishments were not without a price. Mrs. Sanger suffered isolation, poverty, jail, ridicule and ostracism for her views. She wrote in The Pivot of Civilization, "Birth control is not a negative philosophy, it is the instrument of liberation and human development." Margaret Sanger was a spirited advocate of her cause, an energetic figure who moved the hearts of suffering women. Her cause was an essential preventive social service. Never openly honored by her own country, she lived to be recognized by the government of Japan, which bestowed upon her the Third Order of the Sacred Crown. She died of arteriosclerosis on September 6, 1966, in Tucson, Arizona, when nearly 88 years old. The day of her memorial service was marked by terrible rainfall and gale-force winds. Her eulogy ended with these solemn words: "A stormy day to end a stormy life." As a brave woman with a cause, all Margaret Sanger wanted was to be "remembered for helping women, because women are the strength of the future."
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