From Comstock to Capitol Hill: An Ongoing Fight for Reproductive Freedom

In 1912, Sadie Sachs, a working-class woman from Manhattan, approached a clinic counter in the Lower East Side with a simple question that carried life-or-death stakes: how could I prevent another unwanted pregnancy?

At this point, Sadie had already undergone several dangerous, self-induced abortions, the most recent of which had been nearly fatal and drove her to visit every clinic in town in search of answers. With each visit, she was dismissed with flippant remarks such as, “Just tell your husband to sleep on the roof” (Chesler, 2009).

Not long after her unsuccessful quest for answers, she died from complications of another self-induced abortion.

For context, between 1874 and the early 1900s, a deeply oppressive piece of legislation known as the Comstock Laws—courtesy of the impressively misguided Anthony Comstock—deemed any information about sexual health and birth control “obscene” and illegal. Under this law, doctors were prosecuted for sharing sexual health information, distributing contraceptives, and performing life-saving abortions.

As deaths from self-induced abortions rose, the demand for change intensified. 

Enter: a coalition of women coming together to rewrite the wrongs of ill-informed men. Too harsh?

Among these trailblazers was Margaret Sanger, a nurse in New York who, after witnessing too many preventable deaths—including that of Sadie Sachs—became determined to open the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn.

The clinic was shut down almost as swiftly as Sanger was arrested.

Despite repeated arrests, she continued her advocacy and helped push legal boundaries around contraceptive education. Over time, court decisions began to carve out exceptions for doctors to provide contraceptive information, slowly dismantling Comstock-era restrictions.

By 1942, leaders of the birth control movement consolidated their efforts, merging advocacy, education, and clinical services under a single umbrella: the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Meanwhile, back in Texas—where regulations were even stricter and Anthony Comstock–types were in no short supply—women had little to no access to contraception, and rates of self-induced abortions and related deaths continued to climb. While birth control clinics were popping up in New York by the 1910s, comparable access and resources in Texas didn’t appear until the 1930s.

Yet again, female activists in Texas rallied together to save the day, showing a fierce commitment to fix a broken reproductive healthcare system—often at great personal risk.

One of my favorite of these heroic acts comes from Katherine Terrell, who worked with Planned Parenthood representatives in New York to illegally smuggle condoms across state lines—in Costco-sized quantities, no less. She did this for several years, successfully delivering contraceptives to hundreds of women around Dallas. Eventually, Terrell went on to found the Maternal Health Association of Dallas, which later became part of Planned Parenthood.

Fast forward 90 years, the risks taken by Sanger, Terrell, and countless others have paid off in spades: one in three women has taken control of her reproductive health by visiting a Planned Parenthood clinic.

As Margaret Sanger said best, “No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body.” More than access to contraception and life-saving healthcare, the women who came before us secured our ability to make informed choices about our own bodies and futures.

I’d love to say that all their hard work resulted in a happy ending— that women can now rest assured that their reproductive healthcare needs will be met—but alas, that freedom was once again stripped away on June 24, 2022, when the U.S. The Supreme Court made the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Almost 100 years of progress, built on the blood, sweat, and tears of the women who came before us, only to discover that the ghost of Anthony Comstock is still alive and well: it has an inflated ego, a crippling male superiority complex, and goes by the name of Greg Abbott. 

Women in Texas are, once again, resorting to unsafe or illegal means when faced with unwanted pregnancies: obtaining potentially dangerous pills from out-of-state providers, traveling long distances and missing paychecks just to access care elsewhere, and, in many cases, being forced to continue unwanted pregnancies due to cost, travel barriers, and legal restrictions. All the while, doctors and healthcare providers risk losing their licenses and their ability to provide life-saving reproductive care.

However, hope is not lost. Just as women have fought for the right to vote in 1848, for bodily autonomy in the early 1900s, for workplace equality in 1963, and for accountability around sexual violence in 2006, we will, once again, fight until every woman in this country has access to safe and effective healthcare.

Already, brave Dallas citizens have rallied in opposition of punitive state legislation, fighting for women’s autonomy over their own bodies. I had the privilege of hearing from two of them the other day:

Elinor Sachs: Artist, Teacher, Planned Parenthood Advocate

“My passion for reproductive rights began as a student at Hockaday where our required sex education and self defense classes starkly contrasted with what I saw my male peers being taught." Sound familiar?

Unsettled by the state of reproductive healthcare and the lack of education surrounding it, Elinor decided to take action. Unapologetically outspoken in her red state, she auctions her art to support Planned Parenthood and advance its mission. She shares her belief that access to abortion and comprehensive reproductive care is essential to a better future: “Healthier women with access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare lead to a healthier population, stronger economy, and more sustainable environment.”

At a time when many young people in our state lost hope in their elected officials after access to abortion was effectively banned, Elinor chose a different path. “It can be scary to voice the facts of these issues for fear of being ostracized,” she says, “but that’s exactly when we must speak up, because a world without healthcare should be a much bigger fear... No matter what, we will not go quietly—because the solution to many of our global, economic, medical, and social challenges has always been, and will always be, women’s autonomy over their own bodies.” (mic drop).

Cameron McGee: Activist, Former Intern at Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas

Cameron, like Elinor, is a long-time advocate of Planned Parenthood: “I’ve always been outspoken in my support of this extraordinary organization, and that passion comes from the women who raised me—my mom, my aunts, and my grandmother. From a young age, my mom taught me to be curious, to speak up, and to be unafraid. I watched her fiercely defend Planned Parenthood, not with anger, but with intention and care.”

Cameron gave me a much-needed reminder, one that she learned from her mom and carries with her everyday: “Be open. Welcome the questions. Don’t meet them with frustration—meet them with compassion.”

It’s no lie—the odds are stacked against us. By majority vote, we’ve elected a state legislature that has repeatedly acted against women’s autonomy. As Ken Lambrecht, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas shared with us, the organization loses roughly $200 million each year as its mission comes under sustained attack from those who oppose it.

Now more than ever, it’s important we take Cameron’s advice to heart and “be the steady, thoughtful voice this moment calls for.” 

 

Elinor and Cameron are not alone in their commitment to a future where reproductive healthcare is a right afforded to every woman. Far from it. In 2024, the Texas Campaign for Mothers was established with the goal of making the state a safer place to be pregnant, raise a family, and practice medicine. The American Civil Liberties Union and other reproductive justice organizations lobby daily for expanded access and fewer restrictions. Clinics have gone mobile, meeting lower-income women where they are and providing birth control services and sexual health education. These are just a few examples of the resilience shown in the midst of barriers to reproductive healthcare access.

I could end this blog with personal grievances directed at all parties involved in SB 8, an invitation to join me in egging their households, and even a ‘how-to’ on winning every argument about reproductive healthcare with those who oppose it… not that I’ve thought about it. But instead, I will leave you with a much wiser and far more productive course of action from Cameron McGee:

“Be the light. Be brave. And share what you know—even when it feels uncomfortable. This [movement] is resilient. And it needs all of us—now more than ever.”

If I’ve learned anything from history, it’s that progress has never once been freely handed to women. More accurately, it’s been fought for, revoked, fought for even harder, and eventually won (with immense and prolonged backlash). If you ever need reassurance that we will once again out-rally, outsmart, and outlast punitive legislation, look no further than Paxton Smith and the other modern-day Terrell’s fighting for the reproductive rights of all women.

P.s. - If you’re looking to provide immediate reproductive healthcare support to women across Texas today, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an amazing place to start.

 

Thanks for tuning in,

Charlotte

 

Resources:

Chesler, Ellen. "Birth Control Movement in the United States: 1912-1960." Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. 27 February 2009. Jewish Women's Archive

Amory JK. "A history of the birth control movement in America." J Clin Invest. 2011 Oct 3

PlannedParenthood.org