Any friend of the movement: networking for birth control, 1920-1940

Abstract

Any Friend of the Movement: Networking for Birth Control, 1920-1940 By Jimmy Elaine Wilkinson Meyer (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2004) (297 pages: $54.95 cloth, $9.95 CD) In Any Friend of the Movement: Networking for Birth Control, 1920-1940, Jimmy Elaine Wilkinson Meyer studies the founding of the Maternal Health Association (MHA) of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1928. Meyer uses the history of the MHA as a case study to explore the broader issues of family planning, the pioneering work of the women who founded the clinic, and the strategies they used to make birth control acceptable when it was considered illegal, immoral, and unnatural. The women of the MHA maintained their independent status from national birth control centers between 1928 and 1942. In 1942, however, the MHA affiliated with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and ended its reign of autonomy. Meyer presents an interesting, cogent story about how one local organization, established by women, provided birth control to families in the community. The reasons for establishing such a clinic ranged from the eugenics movement that espoused racial uplift and improvement of society to the more pragmatic reasons of the clinic's patients to control the number of their pregnancies and thus improve the life of their families. Throughout the text, Meyer provides comparisons between the local MHA and the national debate on birth control. The MHA sought its autonomy to avoid being tainted by the more radical ideas of the national organizations while still mirroring many of the same strategies in the management of the clinic. In keeping with other birth control centers around the country, an advisory board of physicians provided support for the mostly female staff of doctors, nurses, and social workers. The MHA sent their physicians and nurses to New York to study under the auspices of Margaret Sangers organization. As a result of this training, MHA clients experienced extensive history taking measures completed by public health nurses and physical examinations completed by physicians before receiving the birth control they sought. The diaphragm was the contraceptive of choice that allowed female control over family planning rather than the condom that carried a negative stigma associated with venereal disease, prostitution, and male control of fertility. The book provides a bird's-eye view of one birth control center in Cleveland, Ohio, and relates it to the broader discussion on the national level. It is well documented and provides excellent comments and resources for others interested in the birth control movement in the United States. …