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| Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) |
In this series we have followed the development of eugenic
theory and practice from its birth in Darwinism and Malthusianism, its emergence as an influential movement through advocates such as
Francis Galton and H. G. Wells and the devastating consequences of
the implementation of these ideas by birth controllers such as Marie Stopes. Now we have reached the point where we must consider
a woman whose contribution to the movement has been one of the most
considerable. She was the organising genius of what was to
become, in her lifetime, one of the largest and most powerful organisations
committed to the destruction of human life that the world has ever seen, the
International Planned Parenthood Federation. We must now consider Margaret
Sanger’s campaign for birth control,
abortion and eugenics.
Margaret Sanger was born Margaret Higgins on 14th
September 1879 to a large New York
family; her father was interested in atheism and radical politics. In 1902
Margaret Higgins married an architect named William Sanger who was heavily
involved in left-wing politics. She soon joined the Socialist Party and
embraced the most extreme ideas of the radical movement. Her assertions of
‘sexual freedom’ and consequent acts of adultery destroyed her marriage; she
left her husband in 1913 and they were formally divorced in 1921. In 1914 she
began publishing her own newspaper called
The Woman Rebel which adopted the slogan ‘No Gods, no Masters’. In one
article she proclaimed that ‘rebel women claim the following rights: the right
to be lazy, the right to be an unmarried mother, the right to destroy.’ Sanger soon faced prosecution for
sending lewd and indecent articles by mail. She left her children in the care
of friends and moved to London.
While in London
she formed a close relationship with Havelock Ellis, whose study of
homosexuality (which encompassed ‘inter-generational’ sexual relations)
suggested that it was a normal expression of sexuality rather than a disorder,
as it had always formally been understood.[1] Ellis
was an early member of the Fabian Society and served as Vice-President of the
Eugenics Education Society and as President of the Galton Institute. He
introduced Sanger to Rosicrucianisim, an esoteric cult, which introduces its
initiates to ‘secret wisdom’. Sanger’s fascination with the occult extended to
attempting to communicate with spirits.[2] Her
frequent trips to London
over the succeeding decades became opportunities to begin and renew
acquaintanceships, and adulterous relationships, with like minded dissidents,
including H.G. Wells whose advocacy of eugenics we have previously discussed.
In October 1915 Margaret Sanger returned to America to face the charges that had been brought against
her. In a brilliantly organised speaking campaign she was able to gain much
media support for her cause. She opened her first birth control clinic in New York, choosing an area with a large immigrant
population. Two weeks later she was arrested and sentenced to thirty days
imprisonment for distributing 'obscene' materials and for 'prescribing
dangerous medical procedures.' Shortly after her release she launched The
Birth Control Review in order to
try to change public opinion and win more support for her cause. In 1922 she
contracted a civil marriage with a millionaire named James Noah H. Slee. She demanded a pre-nuptial agreement
which in effect gave her permission to continue her adulterous practices.
Sanger was always able to find wealthy backers, in the future she was to
receive financial support from funds such as the Ford, Mellon and Rockefeller Foundations. Now, in the early 1920s and with access to Noah Slee’s fortune, Sanger
was well positioned to make her dreams a reality.
We may conclude our account of Sanger's early life by noting that, while she has a reputation today as a respectable pioneer of birth control, she was in fact a political extremist who, with her involvement with the occult and flagrant transgression of moral norms, aimed at the subversion of the society in which she lived. We will see in succeeding posts that many aspects of her life and work have been hidden and ignored by those who wish to portray her as 'mainstream'. The abortion industry has always wanted to portray itself as a mainstream medical service. In fact, by pursuing the barbaric slaughter of innocent human life, it is taking Sanger's radical subversion to its logical termination, namely, the destruction of that most fundamental of human values, love and respect for human life.
[1]
The precise nature of the relationship between Ellis and Sanger is difficult to determine.
[2]
Sanger’s involvement with the Rosicrucians and with the occult is well
documented in her own personal papers. See for example the references in Woman of Valour: Margaret Sanger and the
Birth Control Movement in America, p524
