Let's Not Give Birth to an Old Debate

Leaving religion out of this for the moment. . .

Is it my imagination, or is it 2012 and we are once again debating whether birth control is a matter of a woman’s privacy and basic health care?  Contraception has been a standard aspect of medical care since 1937, the year after Margaret Sanger emerged from prison victorious, successful in getting the Comstock Laws overturned in New York.  Strangely, it was not until 1965, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, that birth control in this country was fully “legalized”.  In that landmark case, a woman's ability to acquire and use contraception was upheld as a matter of the due process protections of the 14^th Amendment.

Women today owe a monumental debt to Margaret Sanger, who spent her life trying to raise the standard of justice and decency on their behalf.  It was the early 20^th Century, a time in history where being “good little wives and making more Americans” was White House policy.  Sanger’s perspective was colored by the plight of her own mother, who endured 18 pregnancies that produced only 11 live births over a period of 22 years before dying, virtually broken, at the age of 50.  As a nurse, Sanger was later witness to multiple acts of desperation by women who were essentially enslaved by their husbands through repeated unwanted pregnancies. After watching a woman die of sepsis from a self-induced abortion, she vowed to make contraception widely accepted and easily available.  Hers was a fight for a “democratic” approach to birth control—contraception that was easy and inexpensive to use correctly regardless of a woman’s social class or level of education. 

Today, Sanger’s name is synonymous with contraception; she is considered the leader of the “birth control movement” in America.  This far understates her significance.  When you consider that she opened her first birth control clinic in 1916, just as the women’s suffrage movement was reaching full throttle (the suffrage bill was brought to Congress in 1915 and finally ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920), she deserves credit for far greater influence on the emergence of women in society.  Her argument that women’s control over their reproduction would help them to gain a stronger footing in American society was a necessary precursor to the greater Women’s Movement.  Sanger saw contraception as a means to neutralize a woman’s biological functions in order to participate more fully in education, careers, and other benefits of free society.  These societal gains came at a high price in a world dominated by men, who fought hard against elevating women’s status above that of property.

Many do not realize that Sanger also is directly responsible for the development of the birth control pill.  It was early in her crusade that she imagined a “magic pill” that could be taken as easily as an aspirin to prevent pregnancy.  In the 1950s, she personally raised the financing to fund its development, resulting in the first FDA-approved oral contraceptive.

Margaret Sanger is often associated with the passage of Rowe v. Wade, a decision handed down in 1973, seven years after her death.  Rowe v. Wade was built upon the provisions established in the Griswold v. Connecticut decision, which was the culmination of Sanger's life's work.  Ironically, Sanger herself did not fight for abortion; her motivation was to promote birth control as a safe means to avoid the pregnancies that made abortion necessary.

The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  And so here we are in 2012, where we not only see Rowe v. Wade challenged by an ever-smaller splitting of legal hairs, but now a new debate has emerged on whether an employer can deny women insurance coverage for birth control because of its institutional beliefs.  The work of women like Margaret Sanger should not be forgotten.  I am proud that our daughters are growing up in a world where we can tell them honestly that all things are possible.  Let’s all work together to ensure that this really is the case.

Tomorrow's blog:  Blonde Chili Has More Fun