Woman must have her freedom, the fundamental freedom of choosing whether or not she will be a mother and how many children she will have. Regardless of what man’s attitude may be, that problem is hers — and before it can be his, it is hers alone. She goes through the vale of death alone, each time a babe is born. As it is the right neither of man nor the state to coerce her into this ordeal, so it is her right to decide whether she will endure it.

S. In her book Woman and the New Race Margaret Sanger wrote "while there are cases where even the law recognizes an abortion as justifiable if recommended by a physician I assert that the hundreds of thousands of abortions performed in America each year are a disgrace to civilization. Maisel and Sincere Publishing with the title What Every Mother Should Know or how six little children were taught the truth .

Sanger's activism was influenced by the conditions of her youth—her mother had 18 pregnancies in 22 years and died at age 50 of tuberculosis and cervical cancer. Sanger felt that in order for women to have a more equal footing in society and to lead healthier lives they needed to be able to determine when to bear children. In New York Sanger organized the first birth control clinic staffed by all-female doctors as well as a clinic in Harlem with an entirely African-American staff.