Margaret Sanger's Legacy

Margaret Sanger is well known for her revolutionary movement to educate women on birth control in the early 1900s. Her work included a well known publication, The Birth Control Review, the country’s first birth control clinic and the American Birth Control League. She has been praised as the mother of the women’s sexual liberation movement, but many people who worship her impactful actions are unaware of the issues that lie within them. 

Julianne Malveaux, a writer for Women’s E News, revealed these issues and discussed the impact they have on Sanger’s legacy in her piece, "Sanger’s Legacy Is Reproductive Freedom and Racism." Malveaux mentions all the great things Sanger accomplished in her time. She introduced birth control to thousands of women across the country and defied the authority figures that tried to hold women back and take control of their bodies. But, Malveaux also points out an important aspect of Sanger’s life story that is seldom discussed among her fans. 

“For all her positive influence, I see Sanger as a tarnished heroine whose embrace of the eugenics movement showed racial insensitivity, at best,” Malveaux wrote.

The criticism of Sanger’s civil rights attempts is echoed today, as many feminists are accused of “white feminism,” which means they ignore other races when it comes to advocating for women’s rights. Sanger made a similar mistake. Among her efforts to better the country for women, she also made efforts to better the country for white women only. The eugenics movement Malveaux mentions was an effort to rid the country of inferior humans. Through eugenics, scientists could genetically modify the fetus to portray what society believed to be superior traits. At the time, this was mostly referenced when it came to race and creating a solely white society. 

Sanger was a subtle supporter of eugenics, particularly in her publication, the Birth Control Review. In 1921, she wrote, “The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.” 

This truth about Sanger exemplifies a major problem we’re facing in this country. Much of out historical records portray white people as perfect heroes, who are responsible for changing the course of our country. But, as proved with Sanger’s story, these “heroes” have also perpetuated deep problems in our country, like racism and prejudice against those labeled “inferior.”