The institution that is today’s Planned Parenthood began in the early 1900’s with Margaret Sanger, a nurse who advocated for birth control and led the movement to abolish federal and state laws prohibiting publication of information about sexuality, contraception and human reproduction. In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic and founded Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The Illinois Birth Control League made family planning services available in Chicago in 1923, and continued to do so after incorporation as a Planned Parenthood affiliate in 1947. After contraception was legalized nationwide in 1965, Planned Parenthood opened accessible comprehensive reproductive health care centers in the Chicago Area. In the 1970's Planned Parenthood targeted education initiatives to teen populations, and in 1984, eleven years after Roe v. Wade made abortion legal, Planned Parenthood made this service available and affordable in Chicago.
In 2008, Illinois’ five Planned Parenthood Affiliates—Chicago area, Decatur, East Central Illinois, Heart of Illinois, and Springfield area, consolidated governance and operations to form one statewide organization, Planned Parenthood of Illinois.
Learn more about Planned Parenthood's history.
