25 Margaret Sanger Quotes Highlighting Her Beliefs and Positions

Her name has come up as part of the cancel culture and you can see why in these Margaret Sanger quotes. 

It has long been debated whether Margaret Sanger’s work was good or bad.

Many support the work she did as the founder of Planned Parenthood and an advocate for women’s rights.

She’s also credited largely with helping to spread access to birth control and helping women get information about it.

However, she was also an advocate for the eugenics movement which believed that mating should be restricted among those that were “unfit”, which included people with mental and physical disabilities and those of minority races, among others.

To have a complete understanding of the work that Margaret Sanger did, it’s important to acknowledge her beliefs and what she stood for.

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Planned Parenthood quotes about Margaret Sanger

1. “Sanger’s battle for family planning was unrelenting, unyielding, and totally focused.”

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2. “The removal of Margaret Sanger’s name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood’s contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color.” ― Karen Seltzer

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3. “While she was a woman of heroic accomplishments, Margaret Sanger had some beliefs, practices, and associations that we acknowledge, denounce, and work to rectify today. Her life story provides a portrait that is bold, fascinating, formidable, human, complicated, and flawed.” ― Planned Parenthood

Margaret Sanger quotes

4. “As I look back upon my life, I see that every part of it was a preparation for the next. The most trivial of incidents fits into the larger pattern like a mosaic in a preconceived design.” ― Margaret Sanger

5. “They tell me that The Woman Rebel was badly written; that it was crude; that it was emotional and hysterical; that it mixed issues; that it was defiant, and too radical. Well, to all of these indictments I plead guilty.” ― Margaret Sanger

Horrible Margaret Sanger quotes

6. “No woman shall have the legal right to bear a child without a permit for parenthood.” ― Margaret Sanger

7. “The most merciful thing a large family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it.” ― Margaret Sanger

8. “More children from the fit, less from the unfit — that is the chief aim of birth control.” ― Margaret Sanger

9. “Like begets like. We gather perfect fruit from perfect trees… . Abused soil brings forth stunted growths.” ― Margaret Sanger

10. “The undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind.” ― Margaret Sanger

11. “It now remains for the United States government to set a sensible example to the world by offering a bonus or a yearly pension to all obviously unfit parents who allow themselves to be sterilized by harmless and scientific means.” ― Margaret Sanger

12. “No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.” ― Margaret Sanger

13. “Women of the working class, especially wage workers, should not have more than two children at most. The average working man can support no more and the average working woman can take care of no more in decent fashion.” ― Margaret Sanger

14. “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.” ― Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger quotes about feminism

15. “Woman must not accept; she must challenge.” ― Margaret Sanger

16. “Women must have economic and social equality with men.” ― Margaret Sanger

17. “Every woman should be “absolute mistress of her own body.” ― Margaret Sanger

18. “No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.” ― Margaret Sanger

19. Because I believe that these things which enslave woman must be fought openly, fearlessly, consciously.” ― Margaret Sanger

What people say about Margaret Sanger quotes

20. “Margaret Sanger championed birth control and she supported the racist ideology of eugenics—both are true.” ― Merle McGee

21. “Sanger’s most important contribution was drawing hundreds of thousands of others into such movements for social change.” ― Linda Gordon

22. “Margaret Sanger acted upon her views that were racist, classist, anti-poor, anti-immigrant, and against people with disabilities.” ― Frank Mazzaglia

23. “Margaret Sanger was an early feminist and women’s rights activist who coined the term “birth control” and worked towards its legalization.” ― Biography.com

24. “The biggest concern with Margaret Sanger is her public support for the eugenics medical philosophy which was rooted in racism, ableism and classism.” ― Merle McGee 

25. “The founder of Planned Parenthood does not represent our American ideals, and her images and honors should be pulled down to gather dust in history’s closet.” ― Kristan Hawkins 

What did you learn from these Margaret Sanger quotes?

While some people only focus on the positive work that they feel Margaret Sanger did, even Planned Parenthood, the organization that Margaret Sanger founded, admits that many of her ideas crossed the line.

She had cruel ideas and was against People of Color, people with disabilities, those with mental health challenges, and even those with illnesses such as cancer.

She felt that these people should not be able to become parents. 

It’s important to have a complete understanding of who Margaret Sanger was and what she really stood for.

While you may think she made positive changes in the world for women, it wasn’t all for good reason as some people believe, and it’s important to understand that.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these Margaret Sanger quotes and sayings?

Do you have any other insightful quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.