This essay by Margaret Sanger (1879-1966), pioneering advocate of birth control, emphasizes the importance of women’s right to their body, specifically in terms of family planning. As Sanger writes, “No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body.” While Sanger acknowledges that women who earn a living or who remain unmarried have some freedom, she insists that without access to birth control, they are “still in a position to be enslaved through [their] reproductive powers.” According to Sanger, men of the time not only refused to take any responsibility for birth control, they also prevented women from being empowered to do so themselves. As a result, writes Sanger, woman “will never receive her freedom until she takes it for herself.” Sanger’s words, translated to Persian by Tavaana, express a need that continues today, as women’s right to bodily integrity, from reproductive rights to freedom of movement, continues to be infringed around the world.
Tavaana Publication Click here to read Tavaana’s exclusive translation of “The Right to One’s Body.”
