oct 16, 1916 - Margaret Sanger Opens the 1st Birth-Control Clinic
Description:
On October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger starts the first birth control clinic in the United States, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Margaret Higgins Sanger had worked as a visiting nurse on the Lower East Side of New York City. She said a patient, Sadie Sachs, who died after an unintended pregnancy, was her inspiration for activism. Ten days after Sanger’s clinic opened, she was arrested for violating laws against giving out birth control information. Her sister Ethel Byrne, who was also working at the clinic, was arrested and jailed. The tide turned toward Sanger’s work turned in 1929, when police raided her New York clinic, impounding medical records. The medical community rose up to fight for Sanger. For 5 years, Sanger operated clinics, organized against Comstock censorship laws and educated people about women’s need for reproductive choice. In 1942, the American Birth Control League, which Sanger had founded in 1921, became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.Added to timeline:
Date:
oct 16, 1916
Now
~ 109 years ago