 | |
| Founder | Margaret Sanger |
|---|---|
| Publisher | New York Woman's Publishing Company |
| Editor-in-chief | Margaret Sanger |
| Associate editor | Annie Porritt |
| Founded | 1917 |
| Ceased publication | 1940 |
Birth Control Review, sometimes styledThe Birth Control Review, was an American lay magazine established and edited byMargaret Sanger in 1917, three years after her friend, Otto Bobsein, coined the term "birth control" to describe voluntary motherhood or the ability of a woman to space children "in keeping with a family's financial and health resources."[1] It continued publication until 1940.
The predecessor to the Birth Control Review was Sanger's previous publication titled "The Woman Rebel", a seven-issue periodical running March—October 1914.[2] This journal was the first to publish the term "birth control" in print. This would subsequently lead to Sanger's use of the term to mobilize theBirth Control movement of the 20th century.
In October 1916, Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic in Brownsville,Brooklyn, New York.[3] Sanger published the first issue while imprisoned withEthel Byrne, her sister, and Fannie Mindell for givingcontraceptives and instruction to poor women at the Brownsville Clinic in New York.[4][5] The first edition of the journal came out officially in February 1917.[6]Frederick A. Blossom distributed copies of this first issue as early as January 29, 1917 at a meeting atCarnegie Hall.[7] The journal originally sold for fifteencents a copy with a onedollar a year subscription.[6] Original editors included Sanger and Blossom.[6]Elizabeth Stuyvesant served as the secretary-treasurer.[6]
During the first year of publication, theReview was funded through sales, subscriptions and donations.[8] While Sanger was in prison, Blossom spent the money for theReview and then resigned.[6] Issues continued in 1917 until June when there was a pause in publication due to lack of funds, though it was publicly attributed to the US entry intoWorld War I.[6] A December 1917 edition came out and one salesperson,Kitty Marion, helped sell over 1,000 copies in New York.[9] Her sales helped keep theReview afloat.[9] When Marion was selling copies of the magazine, she enduredheckling, abuse,death threats and police obstruction.[10]
Sanger worked withJessie Ashley,Juliet Ruhblee andHelen M. Todd to create theNew York Woman's Publishing Company which became the official publisher of theReview starting in May 1918.[9][11]Mary Knoblauch was the managing editor.[11]
After 1921, theAmerican Birth Control League (ABCL) took over publication of the journal.[12]Annie Porritt became an associate editor of the journal in 1922.[13] Sanger remainededitor-in-chief until January 31, 1929, when she turned it over to the ABCL.[8][1]
Between 1933 and 1940, theReview became a shorter "monthly bulletin."[8] The last issue was published in January 1940.[14][15]
The main goal of the Review was to increase public support for birth control by using both academic and popular arguments to build support for birth control practices both legally and socially.[16] The BCR urged its readers join groups such asAmerican Birth Control League (which spanned 10 different branches and later becamePlanned Parenthood). Content included news of birth control activities, articles by scholars, activists, and writers on birth control, and reviews of books and other publications.[17] The Review also included art and fiction in the form of cartoons,poetry and short stories.[17] The journal published statistics about the effectiveness of contraceptives.[18] Information on diseases, especiallysexually transmitted infections andtuberculosis, were published.[8] It also included case studies and first hand accounts from women.[8]
Some editions published a column called "Ten Good Reasons for Birth Control."[12] Sanger herself contributed many editorials and articles for the journal.[19] Her speeches were also published.[8] Other contributors includedHavelock Ellis, who wrote about psychology and sexual wellness.[19] andMary Dennett, who argued for birth control as acivil liberty.[20]Eugenicists such asRoswell Johnson,David Starr Jordan,Sigard Adolphus Knopf,C. C. Little,Paul Popenoe,William J. Robinson andLothrop Stoddard wrote for the magazine.[21][9][15]Eugene V. Debs andOlive Schreiner both contributed to theReview.[21]
Black authors also contributed to theReview. Special editions included information for and by Black people relating to family planning.[22]Angelina Weld Grimké wrote two short stories for theReview.[23] Other contributing writers includedMidian Othello Bousfield,Elmer A. Carter,W. E. B. Du Bois,Isaac Fisher,Charles S. Johnson,Chandler Owen, andGeorge Schuyler.[24][25]
TheComstock Act of 1873 made mailing information about birth control and contraceptives, as well as any "article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing" intended for birth control or abortion, illegal.[26] By 1919, most states also had laws that somehow condemned distributing or promoting contraceptives.[27]
In the May 1918 issue, the editorial staff stated that theU.S. Postal Service had allowed theReview to have "second-class" mailing privileges.[6] The journal was available in almost every state and circulation was at 10,000 copies an issue by 1922.[8]