Shortly after I graduated from High School someone gave me a book, The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time. It was a listing, highly subjective as these sorts of things are wont to be, of influential women as judged by the author and chairs of Women's Studies departments across the nation. The book had the women ranked and provided a brief biography for each entry telling why that person was influential. I can't remember who gave me the book, which tells me it was probably someone who did not understand how perfect the tome was for me. Snippets of information in a LIST, GOD I love lists. I devoured the book reading about the important women both historical and contemporary. I vaguely remember that I fully intended to make it a habit to read a full biography of one of the women every month and eventually work my way through the whole list, but you can guess how likely it is that that happened as I started college and my working career.
But what has popped back into my mind recently as I read the political news, as Facebook and my web boards lead me to research (because I eschew all news outlets unless I am actively seeking information), was my distinct belief at the time that the author had done a grave disservice by not placing Margaret Sanger a the top of the list. With the fight over Susan G. Komen's defunding of Planned Parenthood, the Girl Scouts need to defend their international organization's ties with them and the current fight against birth control, I feel that never has this opinion of mine been more true, or more controversial.
Tonight I went back and reread the mini-biography on Margaret Sanger and I was struck by how far we haven't come in 15+ years. (And, yes for some of my more editorial friends and family, I do realize this is probably not properly quoted, nor properly cited, but seeing as this is my personal blog and not a paper that I am turning in for credit or a published article I just don't care so there. PTHBBBT!)
"Birth control has continued to face opposition from the religious organizations, and the institutionalization of family planning has been criticized by those who view it as a form of social engineering. The legalization of abortion in 1973 further complicated the issue of reproductive rights. But few women would wish to return to the days before Margaret Sanger began her crusade, when these rights did not exist. " - Deborah Felder
I do believe this is true, but given the political rhetoric lately, I am sometimes not sure that everyone is sure of how true this is. Before Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood arrived on the scene there was NO way to prevent pregnancy. In fact, doctors were PREVENTED from discussing anything that could assist you in preventing pregnancy or venereal disease. Not even the rhythm method was available, and it was still fairly uncommon for women to be educated. So at that time about the best information you could get if you were poor was that sex sometimes got you pregnant, but not always and no one would tell you why or how to stop it if you already had 10 kids. Additionally, it was your husband's right to have at you any time he wanted with or without your consent.
From the time that Sanger opened her first birth control clinic in 1916 until 1960, there was NO pill and abortions were still illegal until 1973 and definitely not performed in the clinics. And yet Sanger and the organization that she founded were very much pariahs and damned by the Church.
So when we talk about political candidates that would like to take us back to a time when using birth control was illegal, and shutting down funding to an organization that has been at the forefront of allowing women access to knowledge about how their bodies work and how to not have so many babies you become sick from the stress on your body and can't feed all of your children, I wonder how many people really understand how far we have come in less than 100 years. Or maybe they know it in the back of their mind, but don't really consciously think about the implications of allowing politicians to roll back the clock.
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