The earliest advocates of birth control in the United States were for the most part not mainstream medical men but secular reformers of various sorts: utopians, sex radicals, freethinkers, socialists, and others. Some of them used the “science” of the day to argue their case; others did so simply on the basis of women’s rights. Many of those who would later be labeled as eugenicists believed that acquired characteristics were inheritable and this was interpreted to mean that a wanted child would be a better child than an unwanted one. Inevitably the goal of many of the advocates was to make motherhood better and more desirable. This goal, however, did not necessarily require the use of birth control devices and there were serious debates about this in the U.S. setting.
The contribution of some of these radicals was summarized by Ben Reitman in a poem he wrote to Norman Himes, who published the first general history of contraception:
My Dear Himes
You made me weep.
Because your article
On the history
Of Birth Control
was inaccurate
Superficial
“Highschoolish”
And you gave no evidence
Of attempting
To learn the facts.
You delved into history,
But failed to get data from living.
Moses Harmon
Was the true father of American Birth Control
His grand Children are living
And have lots of splendid material . . .
You “muffed” all the fine material
In the early Socialist, Anarchist & I.W.W.
literature.
The tremendous amount of free Love
literature
Passed you by.
There are several hundred pamphlets On B. C. that you evidently know nothing about.
The technique of B. C. propaganda In America is a Mystery to you . . . I mean your prejudice against the RADICALS
Is so great that you not give them credit. Emma Goldman
More than any one person in America Popularized B. C.
She was Margaret Sanger’s Inspiration
No that ain’t the word.
Margaret imitated her and denied her.
Emma was the first person in America
To lecture on Birth Control
in one hundred Cities . . .
The physicians, Social Scientists, Clergy &
etc.
Became interested in B. C.
Only after the Radicals had “broken” the
ground.
And gone to jail.
The inclosed pamphlet
Was distributed by the millions.
Free
In hundreds of Cities in America It went through many editions
Was copied and recopied . . .
The decline in the Birth Rate
Was influenced by this pamphlet.
More than any other one piece of literature
Including Margaret’s “Family Limitation” . . .
B. L. R. [Benjamin L. Reitman]
Was arrested
For distributing this pamphlet
In New York City (60 days)
Rochester, NY (freed)
Cleveland, Ohio (six months)
He was picked up by the police in many
cities
But was let go Big Bill Shatoff
Who was an I.W.W. Organizer
Translated that pamphlet
Into Jewish and most all
Of the Radical Jews had copies
In the early days of the Communists’ activity
In Russia this pamphlet
Had a tremendous circulation in Russia . . .
Get this into your Head
This all done as part of the radical
propaganda
Anti War
Anti Marriage
Anti Children by Accident. . . .
I see no hope for your Medical Scientific
group to make any real
Contributions to history or . . . (Quoted by
Gordon, 1990, pp. 217-218).
Probably the pamphlet Reitman referred to was a four-page one, Why and How the Poor Should Not Have Many Children. It is believed to have been written by Emma Goldman or Reitman himself, although it has also been ascribed to William J. Robinson. It described condoms, instructing the user to check them for leaks by blowing them up with air, and it recommended rubber cervical caps and diaphragms (also called pessaries or womb veils), all of which could be purchased in drugstores, although the pamphlet encouraged seeing a physician before using the cap and diaphragms to ensure a reliable fit. It also suggested three homemade contraceptives: suppositories, douches, and a cotton ball dipped in borated Vaseline.
Reitman himself was for a time Emma Goldman’s comrade and lover. He was a physician and strong advocate of birth control and other radical causes. Though Reitman and Goldman gave specific information in defiance of the law, Goldman had neither the personality nor the organizational skills to develop a mass movement in the United States. That task fell to Margaret Sanger, who, though she started as a socialist and leftist, ultimately chose to act independently of any left-orientated groups, and though originally a freethinker, she also distanced herself from the freethinkers as well.
