page_title: Birth control movement in the United States
section_title: American Birth Control League
hierarchical_section_title: Birth control movement in the United States / Mainstream acceptance (1917–1923) / American Birth Control League
caption_attribution_description: On the right, Number 17 West 16th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York City, along with #5-9 down the block, is a remnant of a row of nine Greek revival houses built c.1846 which have curving front bays, a Manhattan rarity. It was here that Margaret Sanger's Birth Control Research Bureau was located from 1930 to 1973. #19 and 21 are built in the same style and on the same scale, but with simpler detailing, and have notable ironwork, while the cast-iron balcony and railing of #23 (on the far left) are notable. Each house was individually designated a NYC landmark in 1990. (Sources: AIA Guide to NYC (4th ed.), Guide to NYC Landmarks (4th ed.))
context_page_description: The birth control movement in the United States was a social reform campaign beginning in 1914 that aimed to increase the availability of contraception in the U.S. through education and legalization. The movement began in 1914 when a group of political radicals in New York City, led by Emma Goldman, Mary Dennett, and Margaret Sanger, became concerned about the hardships that childbirth and self-induced abortions brought to low-income women. Since contraception was considered to be obscene at the time, the activists targeted the Comstock laws, which prohibited distribution of any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail. Hoping to provoke a favorable legal decision, Sanger deliberately broke the law by distributing The Woman Rebel, a newsletter containing a discussion of contraception. In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, but the clinic was immediately shut down by police, and Sanger was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
  A major turning point for the movement came during World War I, when many U.S. servicemen were diagnosed with venereal diseases.
context_section_description: Although Sanger was busy publishing the Birth Control Review during the years 1919–1920, she was not formally affiliated with either of the major birth control organizations (NBCL or VPL) during that time. In 1921 she became convinced that she needed to associate with a formal body to earn the support of professional societies and the scientific community. Rather than join an existing organization, she considered creating a new one. As a first step, she organized the First American Birth Control Conference, held in November 1921 in New York City. On the final night of the conference, as Sanger prepared to give a speech in the crowded Town Hall theater, police raided the meeting and arrested her for disorderly conduct. From the stage she shouted: "we have a right to hold [this meeting] under the Constitution  ... let them club us if they want to."  She was soon released. The following day it was revealed that Patrick Joseph Hayes, the Archbishop of New York, had pressured the police to shut down the meeting. The Town Hall raid was a turning point for the movement: opposition from the government and medical community faded, and the Catholic Church emerged as its most vocal opponent. After the conference, Sanger and her supporters established the American Birth Control League (ABCL).
caption: The Clinical Research Bureau operated from this New York building from 1930 to 1973.
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