Margaret Sanger Research Paper

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As an early crusader for birth control, Margaret Sanger always experienced illicit controversy. Some of her contemporaries argued that Sanger's fight for birth control was a result of eugenic beliefs with racist motives. Many accused Sanger of being a racist eugenicist who promoted birth control in order to encourage the "fittest" or most "desirable" people to have more children and those deemed "unfit" or "undesirable" to have less. On the contrary, Sanger’s motives for introducing the birth control movement included, her own personal experience where witnessed women at a disadvantage because they didn’t have birth control, she wanted to improve women's health that was suffering, and to provide women their right to the option of using birth control. The basic concept of the eugenics movement in the 1920s and the 1930s was that improvement of the human race would be result if the "fit" had more children and the "unfit" had fewer. Distinction between “fit” and “unfit” people (according to Eugenic believers) was based on the intellectual, moral and physical attributes of a person. Eugenicists believed the difference was evident in class or ethnic distinction. The most controversial aspect of eugenics has been the definition of “improvement” such as what a beneficial characteristic is and what a defect is. Eugenics has historically been tainted with "scientific" racism. By the mid-20th century eugenics had fallen into disfavor, because many associated eugenics with Nazi abuses, such as enforced racial hygiene, human experimentation, and the extermination of "undesired" population groups. Margaret Sanger commenced the birth control movement during the 1920’s and there has been great controversy over her motives for beginning this movement. Some believed that she promoted birth control as a woman’s rights advocate. However, several people disagreed with Margaret
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