Perpetuating a Family Legacy in the Fight For Reproductive Rights with Alexander Sanger

Alexander Sanger joins Chris Charbonneau on yet another episode of the Fall of Roe podcast. The grandson of Margaret Sanger, founder of the birth control movement and Planned Parenthood, he illustrates what New York looked like before abortion became legalized. He remembers there being a rather bipartisan stance on abortion before 1970, how therapeutic abortion was legalized in New York and, and the conditions under which abortion became one of the main forms of organized crime. Chris and Alexander both come to the conclusion, however, that, despite how frightening a future without legalized abortion is, there is an arc towards justice.

Take the Green Wave for example, where women across Latin America are bravely standing up for their right to choose. And here in the U.S., women are obviously doing the same. With more and more Republicans secretly adhering to the Replacement theory, it makes it all the more important to do so. Alexander goes on to talk about his grandmother and the exceptional work she did as an activist for birth control and founding Planned Parenthood. The pair closes out the episode by talking about the importance of birth control and reversible contraceptive methods, summing up with the warning that, if our country isn’t going to protect young women, then young women need to start protecting themselves.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

• New York before Roe V. Wade
• Bipartisan stance for therapeutic abortion pre-1970
• Abortion as organized crime
• The Green Wave
• The arc towards justice
• Romania’s abortion and contraceptive ban
• Replacement theory
• The legacy of Margaret Sanger
• The importance of reversible contraception

Quotes:

“Alex is a longtime colleague of mine in the reproductive health and rights movement, and has a family legacy: grandmother, Margaret, who was one of the founders of Planned Parenthood.”

“New York before 1970 permitted therapeutic abortion. There was a system in New York that if you got doctors to certify that the mental, physical health, or emotional health of the woman would be adversely impacted by pregnancy and giving birth, then a legal abortion could be done.”

“Abortion was about the third or fourth top money earner for organized crime back then.”

“They emulate our movies and our music. One would hope it would stop there. Maybe they would emulate the good parts of our democracy, not the bad parts. We are worried about a ripple effect.”

“Martin Luther King says the arc is towards justice. Well, it is; it's toward the rights of women, autonomy of women, and the government keeping out of our most private and intimate decisions. So it will come back… As we know prohibition never works.”

“While everyone knew racism was wrong, I think your grandmother actually tried to do a fair amount of work that was inclusive, regardless of who all she met with and what standards they held.”

“She went into the eugenics world because she back then was looking for credibility. Birth control was illegal, and she was trying to get support from the establishment to decriminalize birth control.”

“She believed every woman had the right to have access to birth control and education, and to have it be publicly funded. That was her split from the New Deal, because Roosevelt wouldn't put birth control in the New Deal as part of health funding.”

“I think we all understand around the globe that at a certain age people become sexual beings. And without contraception, they become parents.”

“Everyone of childbearing age, get yourself a really good effective long acting, reversible contraceptive method. Make sure you're not a statistic. Make sure you're opening up space in clinics for people who have dire things going on to...