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Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger Quotes

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Famous Margaret Sanger Quotes

“The emergency problem of segregation and sterilization must be faced immediately. Every feeble-minded girl or woman of the hereditary type, especially of the moron class, should be segregated during the reproductive periodwe prefer the policy of immediate sterilization, of making sure that parenthood is absolutely prohibited to the feeble-minded.”

ShouldProblemGirlClassPolicyTypeParenthoodEmergenciesSegregationMoronHereditarySterilization
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“Towards orthodox religion, father's own attitude remained one of tolerance. He looked upon the New Testament as the noble story of a human being which, because of ignorance and the lack of printing presses, had become exaggerated. He maintained that religions served their purpose; some people depended on them all their lives to make them honest. Others did not need to be so held in line. But subjection to any church was a reflection on strength and character. You should be able to get from yourself what you had to go go church for.”

PeopleNeedsShouldHumansCharacterStoriesAblePurposeFatherChurchLinesHuman BeingsAttitudeAtheismHonestIgnoranceReflectionPressesPositive AtheismNobleToleranceOrthodoxTestamentNew TestamentPrintingExaggeratedPrinting PressSubjection
Book:The Autobiography of Margaret Sanger
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“A mutual and satisfied sexual act is of great benefit to the average woman, the magnetism of it is health giving. When it is not desired on the part of the woman and she has no response, it should not take place. This is an act of prostitution and is degrading to the woman's finer sensibility, all the marriage certificates on earth to the contrary notwithstanding.”

GivingShouldEarthMarriageBenefitsResponseAverageContrarySatisfiedMutualSensibilityProstitutionDegradingCertificatesMagnetismNo Response
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“We should not minimize the great outstanding service of Eugenics for critical and diagnostic investigations. It demonstrates ... that uncontrolled fertility is universally correlated with disease, poverty, overcrowding and the transmission of hereditable traits.”

ShouldPovertyDiseaseCriticalTraitsInvestigationOutstandingEugenicsTransmissionEuthanasiaFertilityOvercrowding
Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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“We are paying for and even submitting to the dictates of an ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all-that the wealth of individuals and of state is being diverted from the development and the progress of human expression and civilization.”

ShouldHumansHas BeensStatesIndividualBornWealthHuman BeingsClassProgressExpressionDevelopmentCivilizationShould HaveShould Have BeenEugenicsEuthanasia
Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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“By all means, there should be no children when either mother or father suffers from such diseases as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, cancer, epilepsy, insanity, drunkenness and mental disorders. In the case of the mother, heart disease, kidney trouble and pelvic deformities are also a serious bar to childbearing No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.”

ShouldHeartMeanChildrenMotherSufferingFatherParentBornCasesTroubleSeriousHealthyDiseaseCancerBarsInsanityDisorderDrunkennessKidneysDefectiveHeart DiseaseMental DisorderDeformityTuberculosisSyphilisEpilepsyChildbearingGonorrhea
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“The third group [of society] are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequences of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers. Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.”

PeopleThinkingShouldMindLittlesReligiousNumbersSupportDoubtGroupsFitExerciseMembersElementsNormalConsequenceThirdsRegardNo DoubtDependentRecklessIrresponsibleDiseasedPlanned ParenthoodProcreationScruples
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“In passing, we should here recognize the difficulties presented by the idea of 'fit' and 'unfit.' Who is to decide this question? The grosser, the more obvious, the undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind. But among the writings of the representative Eugenists [sic], one cannot ignore the distinct middle-class bias that prevails.”

ShouldWritingKindIdeasClassMiddleFitDifficultyObviousPassingPassingsMiddle ClassRepresentativesBiasDiscouragedPlanned Parenthood
Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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“As an advocate of birth control I wish ... to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the 'unfit' and the 'fit,' admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes. In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation.... On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”

ShouldTwoMatterProblemTodayWishClassPovertyExampleBirthFitCivilizationLimitsCompetitionRateContraryInferiorsUrgentDiscouragingCradleEugenicsMenaceBirth ControlFertilityDefectiveInaugurationPlanned ParenthoodEmulationBirth Rate
Author:Margaret Sanger
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