Working as a visiting nurse in New York City, Margaret Sanger saw the tragic circumstances of women who sought illegal and unsafe abortions, and those who remained in poverty due to rapidly growing families. She felt a call to action and “resolved that women should have knowledge of contraception. They have every right to know about their own bodies.”

In 1916, Sanger and her sister, Ethel Byrne, opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn. Ten days later the clinic was raided, and both Sanger and Byrne served jail time. Byrne brought attention to the cause through a hunger strike in prison.