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Margaret Sanger is mainly the American leader of the birth-control movement. Sanger was born in Corning, New York, on September 14, 1883, and trained as a nurse at the White Plains (New York) Hospital. Her work among the poor in New York City convinced her of the widespread need for information concerning contraception, and she abandoned nursing to devote herself to the promotion of that objective. In 1914, she was indicted for circulating through the mails a magazine …

…served through the years 1921 until 1928 as its first president. In 1927, she organized the first World Population Conference. Sanger was honorary chairperson of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., which was formed from the American Birth Control League in 1942. Throughout her career Sanger traveled extensively, particularly in Europe and Asia, to publicize the birth-control movement. She died on September 6, 1966, in Tucson, Arizona. She wrote several books on birth control and Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography in 1938.