Changes in birth control legislation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are analyzed from the perspective of 2 contrasting theoretical models: the corporate liberal model and the class conflict model. The former approach emphasizes domination and the repressive consequences of reform wheras the latter model focuses on the complex relationships among classes and the state. The corporate liberal model posits that women of the corporate class and philanthropists such as the Rockefeller family saw birth control reform as a means to extend class rule. These forces were concerned with improving the quality of the population in the face of widespread immigration and balancing population growth against limited resources. The impact of philanthropic interests on the birth control movement was to establish a body of experts-- the birth control intelligentsia--who defined the rationales for public use of contraception and the circumstances under which it was to be made available. The class conflict model rejects this emphasis on domination viewing the consequences of legal reform as variable and dependent on the balance of class forces revealed in the process of change. Its application involves connecting the distinctive experiences of each of several classes and class factions to the forces advancing reform and showing how the relationships among classes and the state determine the outcome of the reform process. Anthony Comstocks crusade against birth control is viewed as an attempt to regulate the sexual activity of the corporate class and to improve its declining biological position in relation to working class immigrants. He was able to secure the support of corporate liberals because his movement was aimed against radicalism and was consistent with that sectors antiunion strategy. However Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger organized working class resistance to Comstockery. The decline of the feminist movement and the repression of the Socialist Party ruptured the ties between the birth control movement and mass support leaving the movement open to cooptation by the birth control intelligentsia. It is concluded that the class conflict model with its emphasis on the role of both dominant and subordinant classes and class factions facilitates a clearer analysis of historical material.