March Is Women’s History Month
In the early 20th century, the right to choose when and whether to have children became a cornerstone of women's efforts to achieve social, political, and economic equality and freedom. Planned Parenthood played a central role in making reproductive health care safe, effective, and available to women and men around the world.
The First Birth Control Clinic
In 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the United States' first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, NY. Although she was later forced to close the clinic, Sanger went on to found organizations dedicated to legalizing and dispensing birth control — organizations that would later become Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).
Margaret Sanger's work centered on the principles that a woman's right to control her body is the foundation of her human rights; that every person should be able to decide when or whether to have a child; that every child should be wanted and loved; and that women are entitled to sexual pleasure and fulfillment.
Today, local Planned Parenthood affiliates throughout the country operate more than 860 health centers, providing high-quality medical services and medically accurate, comprehensive sex education.
A Birth Control Revolution
In the first half of the 20th century, women's birth control options were very limited. Former PPFA President Alan Guttmacher played a key role in the development of the birth control pill that was approved for use in 1960.
By 1965 one out of every four married women under 45 in the United States had used the pill. That same year, the U.S. Supreme Court found that criminalizing the use of birth control violated married couples' right to privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut. Seven years later, in Eisenstadt v. Baird, the justices found that this right also applied to unmarried people.
Legalizing Abortion: Roe v. Wade
Griswold and Eisenstadt set the stage for one of the most important events in U.S. women's history. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade struck down restrictive abortion laws throughout the nation when the court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion.
In 1965, 17 percent of all deaths associated with pregnancy and childbirth were the result of illegal abortion. Today, abortion is safe, legal, and one of the most common medical procedures in the United States.
Reproductive Freedom Enters the 21st Century
The last three decades have seen countless attacks on women's reproductive rights. But the pro-choice majority in the U.S. remains strong.
In the face of anti-choice extremism, Planned Parenthood continues to fight so that future generations of women will have the same fundamental right to reproductive freedom we enjoy today. Join us.
Read more about the history and successes of Planned Parenthood.
Published: 02.29.08
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