Exploring the Rhetoric of the Birth Control Movement
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The Battle for Birth Control: Exploring the Rhetoric of the Birth Control Movement 1914-2014 A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Jessica L. Furgerson May 2015 © 2015 Jessica L. Furgerson. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled The Battle for Birth Control: Exploring the Rhetoric of the Birth Control Movement 1914-2014 by JESSICA L. FURGERSON has been approved for the School of Communication Studies and the Scripps College of Communication Raymie E. McKerrow Professor of Communication Studies Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii Abstract FURGERSON, JESSICA L., Ph.D. May 2015, Rhetoric and Public Culture The Battle for Birth Control: Exploring the Rhetoric of the Birth Control Movement 1914-2014 Director of Dissertation: Raymie E. McKerrow Formally begun in 1914 under the leadership of Margaret Sanger, the birth control movement in the United States constitutes one of the longest and most important rights based struggles in American history. This work approaches the phrase birth control as an ideograph and deploys critical historiography to explore its evolving articulations within the movement’s rhetoric over the last 100 years. In doing so, this work builds on current scholarship in the fields of communication, history, and sociology by expanding existing discussions surrounding the struggle for reproductive rights generally and birth control specifically. Drawing primarily from archival materials and popular media sources, this work explores both how the movement articulated its demands and how these articulations played out in public discussions about birth control. Grounded in a historical overview of the movement, the rhetoric of the movement is then examined in relation to securing the right to contraception for various stakeholders and, most importantly, the articulation of women’s reproductive rights. The espoused framework for reproductive rights is then broken down into its component parts – control and choice – culminating in a discussion of the rhetoric of constraint which limits the full enactment of the very reproductive rights framework birth controllers sought to establish. Ultimately, this work seeks to examine the tensions created by the movement’s strategy of political iii accommodation that popularized the movement, and simultaneously left it vulnerable to the demands of external stakeholders. iv Dedication To all those who have championed my cause. v Acknowledgements Projects such as this are impossible alone so I would be foolish if I did not take this opportunity to thank the people who have made this possible. Raymie McKerrow, thank you for believing in both me and this project; more than just my advisor, over the last few years you have become my mentor and I am forever grateful for your invaluable insight and unwavering support. J.W. Smith, you have left an indelible mark on me as both a scholar and a person; thank you for opening your heart and mind to me. Judith Lee, it was your class that inspired this project and it has been your guidance that brought it to fruition; I cannot thank you enough for being a part of this journey. Katherine Jellison, thank you for fueling my love of history and encouraging me to delve deeper; I am immensely grateful for the unique perspective you brought to this project. To my colleagues and mentors at Ohio University, words cannot express my gratitude for your continued support and friendship; your scholastic and interpersonal comradery propelled me to follow my passions, trust my instincts, and believe in myself. Specifically, thank you to Jenn Seifert for being my faithful sounding board and fountain of inspiration. Many thanks to Justin Rudnick, Steve Phalen, Anna Wiederhold, Rebecca Mercado Thornton, Stellina Aubuchon, Nate Simmons, Tim McKenna, and Mike Parsons not just for your continued encouragement, but also for the laughs, the thoughtful conversations, and the reminder that this journey should be both doable and enjoyable. To my friends and family in the forensics community, I am forever indebted to this activity and the people in it for helping me find my voice and empowering me to use it. To the students and coaches at Western Kentucky University and Ohio University, vi many thanks for your continued encouragement and support. Specifically, thank you Seth Peckham, Ben Robin, Ben Pyle, Jeremy Frazer, Susan Taylor, Chad Meadows, Jace Lux, Ganer Newman, Carrie Guggenmos, Lindsey White, Deb Gensheimer, Dan West, and Mark Koskoska; you all have not only kept me motivated, but have also kept me fed, comforted, and sane throughout this journey. Thank you to the friends who have become my family. Meghan Townes, Liz Owens, and Sherri Richards thank you for believing in me for more than a decade. Lauren Nelson, Glenn Prince, and Adam Swanson thank you for a friendship that transcends space and time. Dan Glaser, Tony Sylvester, Cori Zanin, Candice Rios, and Danielle Donley thank you for making me feel at home in Athens and for being my bobcat family. Haley Siler and Jennifer Wells thank you for your unwavering kindness and irreplaceable friendship. Finally, thank you to my family for standing behind me even though my endeavors have taken me far away from you. I am forever grateful to Sandra and Buddy Simpson, Chuck Edwards, Sam and Lou Furgerson, and Nikki Furgerson for their love and support. Most importantly, thank you to my parents Tom and Carla Furgerson for everything – this work belongs as much to you as it does to me, for without you it would have never happened. vii Table of Contents Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication ............................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: A History of the Movement .............................................................................13 Chapter 3: The Right to Birth Control ...............................................................................47 Chapter 4: The Rhetoric of Control .................................................................................115 Chapter 5: The Rhetoric of Choice ..................................................................................166 Chapter 6: The Rhetoric of Constraint .............................................................................209 Notes ................................................................................................................................244 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................261 Appendix A: Commonly Used Abbreviations .................................................................286 Appendix B: Timeline of Major Events...........................................................................287 viii Chapter 1: Introduction Birth control is the first step toward the goal of [woman’s] freedom. She can never gain political, social, or spiritual freedom so long as her body remains the slave of ignorance.1 Best of all in 1964, planned parenthood is no longer a ‘cause.’ It is a human right, and now recognized as such. Women no longer think about it, they take it for granted as they do the vote, and their right to work at jobs, and to wear slacks instead of skirts.2 We don’t need another political fight about ending a woman’s right to choose or getting rid of Planned Parenthood or taking away affordable birth control. We’re not turning back the clock. We’re not going backwards.3 Margaret Sanger sadly never lived to see the day when birth control and planned parenthood were no longer a cause, as that day has yet to come. It has been nearly 100 years since Margaret Sanger began her fight for birth control and it was the most recent resurfacing of this fight, over the controversial mandate within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring all employers to cover contraceptives, that sparked this project. Like many women in my generation I was shocked to find out that most insurance companies didn’t already provide contraceptive coverage and that a requirement to do so was such a contentious issue, but I was even more shocked when I uncovered nearly identical headlines from 1914 and 2012 heralding the urgency of birth control. Though much has changed in the time span between these two headlines, for starters birth control is now legal and widely available, much in the way of how we discuss birth control as evidenced in the quotations above has remained the same. This work is the first to describe the history of the birth control movement in the United States from a rhetorical perspective. Other historical accounts of this movement 1 focus on the chronological sequence of events and present a story of the movement’s evolution with little regard to the discourse that gives meaning to the century long battle for birth control. These histories are riddled with contestation that, although constituted by people, places, and events, truly come into focus when viewed as discursive fragments, the collection of which,