The birth control movement in the United States was a social reform
campaign from 1914 to the 1940s that increased the availability of
contraception through education and legalization. The movement was
started by Emma Goldman, Mary Dennett, and Margaret Sanger, who were
concerned about the hardships that childbirth and self-induced
abortions brought to low-income women. In 1916, Sanger opened the
first birth control clinic in the US, but it was immediately shut down
by police. A major turning point for the movement came during World
War I, when many US servicemen were diagnosed with venereal diseases,
leading to an anti-venereal disease campaign that treated contraception
as a matter of public health. Sanger successfully opened a second
birth control clinic in 1923. Legal victories in the 1930s continued
to weaken anti-contraception laws and in 1937 the American Medical
Association adopted contraception as a core component of medical school
curriculums. In 1942, the Planned Parenthood organization was formed,
creating a nationwide network of birth control clinics.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_control_movement_in_the_United_States>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1870:
The Bulgarian Exarchate, the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox
Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the other Orthodox
churches in the 1950s, was established by the firman of Sultan
Abdülâziz of the Ottoman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_Exarchate>
1881:
Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team
and became the world's first black international football player.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Watson_%28footballer%29>
1912:
Juliette Gordon Low founded a youth organization for girls that grew
into the Girl Scouts of the USA.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scouts_of_the_USA>
1934:
Supported by the Estonian Army, Konstantin Päts staged a coup d'état,
beginning the Era of Silence.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_P%C3%A4ts>
1952:
British diplomat Hastings Ismay was appointed as the first Secretary
General of NATO.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Ismay%2C_1st_Baron_Ismay>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
zombie out (v):
(informal) Become like a zombie in being listless, vacant, and
unresponsive
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zombie_out>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
All is well, practice kindness, heaven is nigh.
--Jack Kerouac
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac>