Margaret Sanger and Birth Control
Margaret Sanger, an American nurse, was the first to start the modem birth control movement in the United States. In 1912 she
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publishing information about women"s reproductive (生殖的) concerns through articles and books. In 1914 Sanger was charged
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violation of, the Comstock Law, which federal legislation had passed in 1873 forbidding the mailing of sexy material
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information about birth control and contraceptive (避孕的) devices. Though she was put in jail for these activities, Sanger
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to publish and spread information about birth control. She and her sister Ethel Byrne opened the first of several birth control clinics in America on October 16, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York.
The Comstock Law was rewritten by Congress in 1936 to
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birth control information and devices. Many states had laws forbidding distribution or use of contraceptive devices but the constitutionality (合宪性) of these laws was increasingly
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In 1965, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that married people have the right to practice birth control without government intervention. In 1972, the court
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that unmarried people have the same right.
Today there are more birth control options
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, but overpopulation and unwanted pregnancies remain worldwide
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. Having more children than one can support may lead
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poverty, illness, and high death rates for babies, children, and women.
The problem of teenage pregnancy is
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worse in the United States
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in almost any other developed country. Studies show that birth rates for women under 20 are higher in the United States than in 29 other
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countries. A detailed study suggested that the problem of teenage pregnancy in the United States may be
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to less sex education in schools and lower availability (可获性) of contraceptive services and supplies to young people. This study
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the view of people in the United States who argue that sex education or making contraceptive supplies available to school-age children promotes sexual activity.