"No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not become a mother" (Sanger 1920). Woman of the Twenty-First century have many reliable options to choose from when deciding on the birth control method that is right for them until they decide to conceive. Yet, birth control was not always available to woman in the United States. The Comstock Act signed into law by President Grant in 1873, restricted the transport of contraceptives, or any information about them through the mail. Many women, who were later joined by a few men, fought relentlessly for the primal right of every person to have absolute control over their own body. The main front runner in the fight for woman to have the means to take control over her own destiny was Margaret Sanger.
As a visiting nurse and midwife in New York's slums, Margaret Sanger got a front row seat to the despair facing many women in the early 20th century. The state of the people in which Margaret worked with was a nightmare to her. "There seemed no sense to it all, no reason for such waste of mother life, no right to exhaust women's vitality and throw them on the scrap-heap before the age of thirty five" (Sanger 1931). She heard of many ways the woman try to induce abortion unsuccessfully. Even on the days she worked in better parts of town she would hear women consulting midwives and doctors for advice on limiting their families, but were denied any information. (Sanger 1931).
Margaret began asking the doctors what she could do herself to help the women and was told to stay out of it or Anthony Comstock would be after her. She was then told about the laws that existed against "this kind of thing." But, Margaret still wanted to do something to help women have access to contraception methods. Then, she contacted Feminist groups who laughed at the idea of bringing such things to the public.
