Despite the ongoing celebration of National Women’s Month, the current legislative landscape and discussions across the United States present a challenging contrast, casting doubt on the country’s commitment to honoring women and protecting their rights. For instance, several states have recently introduced bills that seek to restrict women’s access to reproductive healthcare services, sparking nationwide debates and protests.
Perhaps this March would have been a much more celebratory month for women if Mary Coffin Ware Dennett had succeeded at making birth control a fundamental right back in the 1900s.
Dennett (1872 – 1947) – an American women’s rights and birth control activist – co-founded the National Birth Control League, alongside fellow Margaret Sanger, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Dennett was a major leading voice in the fight for reproductive freedom and access to birth control, which was a significant contributor to the eventual legalization of birth control in the United States.
However, despite both activists fighting for women’s contraceptive rights in the early 1900s, the extent to which Dennett and Sanger wanted to legalize birth control differed. Dennett held a more all-encompassing view of birth control, wanting to make sure that it was legal and accessible to all of those who tried to use it. Dennett criticized medical establishments, believed they were largely male-dominated, and didn’t hold women’s best interests in mind.
However, Sanger was more inclined to ensure that birth control remained under the control of physicians, who could prescribe it as they see medically fit. She believed this would ensure that women received safe and effective contraception, and who better to provide women with medical care and advice than doctors?
To advocate her views, Dennett started to spread pamphlets that contained pro-contraception literature. She was convicted for violating the Comstock Act in United States v. Dennett, a federal law aimed at criminalizing the distribution of obscene materials. The Supreme Court denied the hearing of her case, so she was found guilty and fined.
In a following trial, United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, the court ruled that the aforementioned Comstock Act didn’t apply to shipments of contraceptives sent to physicians for the use of treating a patient. This affirmed the doctor-patient relationship, furthering Sanger’s views that birth control should be accessible through medical professions.
Sanger and her views prevailed, discounting Dennett’s attempt at making birth control a fundamental right. This led to the current-day acceptance of Sanger as more of a reproductive rights reformer than Dennett. However, hypothetically what might have occurred if Dennet had succeeded at making birth control a fundamental right?
Dennett’s success in the 1900s might have led to a broader social and cultural landscape of the United States In the current day. Women would have been given a greater degree of autonomy over their reproductive choices, leading to a decrease in maternal mortality rates and the placement of children in families that were not fit to support them.
This hypothetical would also have historical significance, such as in the case of the Baby Boomer Era (1946 – 1964). If Dennett had succeeded, then perhaps the Baby Boom wouldn’t have even occurred. The availability of reliable birth control would have given people more control over their reproductive choices, and over the sizes of their families. This would cause a ‘ripple effect’ into the present day, as there would be a smaller population with different demographics, potentially leading to significant changes in social, economic, and cultural trends.
Additionally, open access to birth control could have facilitated women’s participation in the workforce, giving them more control over the ability to bear and care for children. This could lead to a greater degree of economic equality between men and women and greater opportunities for women to advance their careers.
Although Dennett’s success could have led to legal and social challenges posed by conservative and religious groups’ opposition, it could have led to greater female autonomy and equality in the current day. We have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and continue to fight for the reproductive rights of women by celebrating Dennett, a woman who created a framework for birth control as a fundamental right.
