kosmos: Margaret Sanger

Evidence: 44 • authority: 72

The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. It is the oral form of combined hormonal contraception. The pill contains two important hormones: a progestin (a synthetic form of the hormone progestogen/progesterone) and estrogen. When taken correctly, it alters the menstrual cycle to eliminate ovulation and prevent pregnancy. Combined oral contraceptive pills were first approved for contraceptive use in the United States in 1960, and remain a very popular form of birth control. They are used by more than 100 million women worldwide including about…

Evidence: 39 • authority: 72

Margaret Sanger (née Higgins; September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instrumental in the development of the first birth control pill. Sanger is regarded as a founder and leader of the U.S. birth control movement. In the early 1900s, contraceptives, abortion, and birth control literature were illegal in much of the U.S. Working as a nurse in the slums of New York City, Sanger often treated mothers desperate to avoid conceiving additional children, many of whom had resorted to back-alley abortions. Sanger was a first-wave…

Evidence: 26 • authority: 72

The birth control movement in the United States was a social reform campaign beginning in 1914 that aimed to increase the availability of contraception in the U.S. through education and legalization. The movement began in 1914 when a group of political radicals in New York City, led by Emma Goldman, Mary Dennett, and Margaret Sanger, became concerned about the hardships that childbirth and self-induced abortions brought to low-income women. Since contraception was considered to be obscene at the time, the activists targeted the Comstock laws, which prohibited distribution of any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail. Hoping to provoke a favorable legal decision, Sang…

Evidence: 26 • authority: 72

Gregory Goodwin Pincus (April 9, 1903 – August 22, 1967) was an American biologist and researcher who co-invented the combined oral contraceptive pill.

Evidence: 26 • authority: 88

Margaret Sanger: “Birth Control and Racial Betterment”. Margaret Sanger was a New York City nurse in 1912 when she began writing a series of articles for the New York Call that would be compiled into the 1916 book What Every Girl Should Know. By the time she wrote “Birth Control and Racial Betterment” in 1919, an article published in the monthly Birth Control Review, she had launched a new movement for birth control and women’s empowerment. Her rhetoric changed as she grew more experienced and was exposed to different kinds of activism. She sought to expand the birth control movement beyond its radical base and draw support from broader segments of the population, first speaking to working-…

Evidence: 26 • authority: 88

Margaret Sanger’s Network of Feminists. Many feminist philanthropists believed that economic and political rights for women were incomplete without the right to control one’s reproduction. America’s leading birth control advocate, Margaret Sanger, was a skilled fund-raiser. She carefully managed a network of society women who supported her organizations, publications, and private life. Chapter 6 takes a new approach to understanding Sanger: by moving the spotlight from Sanger to her supporters, it becomes clear that her strategic turn to wealthy women did not come at the expense of her feminism (even if she did drop her socialism), as has been argued by some historians. This chapter shows t…

Evidence: 20 • authority: 80

PART I. BIRTH CONTROL BEFORE MARGARET SANGER

Evidence: 20 • authority: 80

Sanger, Margaret (1879-1966), birth control advocate

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only became available in the 20th century. Planning, making available, and using human birth control is called family planning. Some cultures limit or discourage access to birth control because they consider it to be morally, religiously, or politically undesirable. The World Health Organization and United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide guidance on the safety of birth control methods among women with specific medical conditions. The…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The first large-scale human trial of the birth control pill was conducted by Gregory Pincus and John Rock in 1955 in Puerto Rico. Before the drug was approved by the FDA in the mainland United States, many poor and uneducated Puerto Rican women were used as research subjects. These trials are a major component in the history of the development of female oral contraceptives, occurring in between initial small trial testing in the Northeast and the release of the drug for public use. The trials are controversial because the Puerto Rican women were uninformed of the potential health and safety risks of the drug. For this reason, there is criticism coming from feminist circles surrounding the t…

Evidence: — • authority: 80

The discipline and disciplining of Margaret Sanger: US birth control rhetoric in the early twentieth century

Evidence: — • authority: 92

Reversible female contraceptives: historical, current, and future perspectives†.. Contraception is a practice with extensive and complicated social and scientific histories. From cycle tracking, to the very first prescription contraceptive pill, to now having over-the-counter contraceptives on demand, family planning is an aspect of healthcare that has undergone and will continue to undergo several transformations through time. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current reversible hormonal and non-hormonal birth control methods as well as their mechanism of action, safety, and effectiveness specifically for individuals who can become pregnant. Additionally, we discuss the late…