Used by permission from the Arizona Historical Society

In 1914 Margaret Sanger started a crusade that would generate nationwide benefits. Influenced by her childhood and her career as an obstetrical nurse, Margaret became convinced that family planning was a necessity for the well being of individual women. She opened the first U.S. birth control clinic, in Brooklyn in 1916, which was illegal at the time. She later worked with organizations that led to the founding of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She worked throughout the rest of her life to advance the birth control movement around the world.

A native of New York State, she moved to Tucson to improve her adult son’s health in 1934 and adopted Arizona as her home. Soon after her arrival, she worked with local women to found the Mother’s Health Clinic, which distributed contraceptives. A few years later, she helped Phoenix women start a birth control clinic in their city. Sanger inspired the group of volunteers who staffed these clinics and many others concerned with women's health care. In Tucson, Sanger raised funds to help establsih the Tucson Medical Center and served on the hospital board, making lasting contributions to improved health care in southern Arizona.