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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

All is well, practice kindness, heaven is nigh. --Jack Kerouac http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac