Did You Know? Some Interesting Pro-Choice Trivia

Last night I attended an awesome training for pro-choice activists, where I got a very condensed history of Planned Parenthood and the pro-choice movement. It was a lot of fun to hear about the courageous work of Margaret Sanger, who started advocating for women’s health as early as 1916. Sanger was the sixth of eleven children – her mother had 18 pregnancies in total. Sanger’s own family history partially explains her desire to promote birth control and family planning for women. We’ll be talking more about Margaret Sanger’s legacy when Gloria Feldt helps us launch our first Choice Chat on October 25th. But for now, let’s just say that the pro-choice movement would not be where it is today without the work of Margaret Sanger.

Here are some more pieces of pro-choice trivia for you, all of which will probably work their way into a full blog post in the future.

• Abortion accounts for less than 3% of the services Planned Parenthood provides.  The majority of clients (5 out of 6 women) use Planned Parenthood for preventative services, like breast exams, birth control, and STI testing.
• The first family planning clinic in the US was opened in Brooklyn in 1916 by Margaret Sanger.
• The American Medical Association recognized birth control as standard medical treatment in the 1930′s.
• The birth control pill was approved by the FDA on May 9, 1960.
• The March for Women’s Lives in 2004 was the largest march that has ever happened in US history.

  All you pro-choice advocates out there should be pretty proud of the fact that women know how to raise a ruckus. More pro-choice history is in the works . . . so stay tuned!

  • Share this:
  • Facebook
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Email
  • Print