Formation of the Birth Control League in New York

On May 12, 1915, a group of New York activists formally organized the Birth Control League, one of the earliest organized bodies dedicated explicitly to advancing the cause of birth control in the United States. The League's formation was directly spurred by the public outcry over William Sanger's arrest two months earlier for distributing Margaret Sanger's contraceptive pamphlet.

This organizational milestone represented a crucial shift from individual acts of civil disobedience toward a structured, collective movement. Where Margaret Sanger had largely acted alone or with a small circle of radical allies through publications like The Woman Rebel, the League brought together reformers, physicians, and social activists under a shared institutional banner.

The League's establishment reflected growing public sympathy for birth control access, particularly among working-class and immigrant women who lacked resources for family planning. It served as an important precursor and organizational model for the American Birth Control League that Sanger would found in 1921, which itself eventually evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The formation of this early league demonstrates how quickly the birth control cause moved from underground radical activity to organized reform advocacy, laying essential groundwork for the legal and social battles Sanger would continue fighting over the subsequent decades.