Voluntary Motherhood: The Birth Control Movement

The birth control movement began during the progressive era in about 1912. During this time women felt they had the right to obtain knowledge on contraceptives and the different methods that were available to them, so that unwanted pregnancy could be avoided and they could enjoy having sex without worrying about becoming pregnant. In 1912 a nurse named Margaret Sanger invented the term we know today called birth control, in her process of speaking on behalf of women rights to make the decision of whether or not they wanted to have a child. Sanger broke the law of the Comstock anti-obscenity by trying to inform young women on sexual and reproductive information they made need, by sending information through the mail. To avoid going to jail,
Voluntary motherhood, like the birth control movement allowed women to decided if and when they wanted to have a child. Those who believed in voluntary motherhood, belief that contraceptive was not natural, so they used the methods of abstinence. Which is what is different between voluntary motherhood and the birth control movement, the women participating in the birth control movement still had sex, they just protected themselves against pregnancy, and the women participating in the early idea of voluntary motherhood used abstinence and avoided having sex in order to avoid pregnancy. Birth control became a feminist issue, because the idea of women being able to control whether or not they wanted to have children or not, meant that they had power over their lives and could make decisions that determined how they were impacted. Feminist having control over their bodies gave them another since of freedom for their lives. “I threw my nursing bag into the corner and announced to my family that I would never take it up again, i would never take anther case until I had made it possible for the working women in America to have the knowledge to control birth”