I got my first prescription for birth control pills when I was 17, away at college, and ready for sex. By then, it was no longer a rebellious act, but a fact of modern life. It is staggering to imagine that until 1972, there were states in America, where it was illegal for single women to buy contraception. The hero of our story is the revolutionary Margaret Sanger who fought for 50 years to ensure that women could control their pregnancies. In 1914, she coined the very term, birth control, was wanted by the law, and fled to Europe, where she launched the journal, The Woman Rebel, declaring, “a woman’s body belongs to herself alone.” She returned to the States and started the first birth control clinic in 1916 (which eventually became Planned Parenthood), and was actively involved in the development of the Pill.
In celebration of Margaret Sanger’s birthday, September 14, 1879, I made a donation to Planned Parenthood [1].