--- title: Birth Control History: Read Emma Goldman's 1916 Defense description: Goldman was arrested exactly 100 years ago for distributing information about birth control canonical: https://time.com/4208056/emma-goldman-1916-birth-control/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T14:00:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:46:32.559Z article:section: History og:title: Birth Control History: Read Emma Goldman's 1916 Defense og:description: 'When a law has outgrown time and necessity, it must go' og:url: https://time.com/4208056/emma-goldman-1916-birth-control/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta435e925569f3897/69887c22cf40a84ce0c41cf3/goldman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Emma Goldman og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Birth Control History: Read Emma Goldman's 1916 Defense twitter:description: 'When a law has outgrown time and necessity, it must go' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta435e925569f3897/69887c22cf40a84ce0c41cf3/goldman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Emma Goldman's 1916 Letter Defending the Need for Birth Control ## Video: The History of Birth Control [Watch (HLS stream): The History of Birth Control](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4oCau3Jn.m3u8) (3:12)  _Published 2015-01-22. For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years._  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 11, 2016 2:00 PM CUT  Portrait of Emma Goldman as she appeared just before entering the federal penitentiary to serve her term after a later arrest, in 1917 Portrait of Emma Goldman as she appeared just before entering the federal penitentiary to serve her term after a later arrest, in 1917PhotoQuest / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 11, 2016 2:00 PM CUT For decades after the passage of the Comstock Act in 1873, it was illegal in most states for anyone—even doctors—to dispense information about contraception. But that didn’t stop Emma Goldman, one of the 20th century’s most famous anarchists and also an early crusader for family planning. Goldman’s outspoken advocacy of birth control led to her arrest 100 years ago—on Feb. 11, 1916—on obscenity charges while on her way to give a lecture on the topic of atheism. A few days later, Goldman wrote a [letter](http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/goldman/pdfs/letter14.pdf "undefined") to the press laying out her motivation (the letter is in [the impressive Emma Goldman Papers collection at Berkeley](http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/goldman/index.html "undefined")): --- > “” --- Concluding her letter, Goldman noted that, “while I am not particularly anxious to go to jail, I should yet be glad to do so, if thereby I can add my might to the importance of birth control and the wiping off our antiquated law upon the statute.” The activist ended up spending two weeks in a prison workhouse. The [Carnegie Hall meeting ](https://books.google.com/books?id=QZJGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA445&dq=emma+goldman+released+from+workhouse+may+1916&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPz9z-5N7KAhUCCT4KHai-AcQQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=emma%20goldman%20released%20from%20workhouse%20may%201916&f=false "undefined")that marked her release that May drew more than 3,000 people who wanted to celebrate her return—and to obtain information about birth control. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4208056/emma-goldman-1916-birth-control/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4208056/emma-goldman-1916-birth-control/"},"headline":"Read Emma Goldman's 1916 Letter Defending the Need for Birth Control","datePublished":"2016-02-11T14:00:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:46:32.559Z","description":"'When a law has outgrown time and necessity, it must go'","url":"https://time.com/4208056/emma-goldman-1916-birth-control/","keywords":["health","medicine","Crime","gender","Family","Courts","Birth Control"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta435e925569f3897/69887c22cf40a84ce0c41cf3/goldman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta435e925569f3897/69887c22cf40a84ce0c41cf3/goldman.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Emma Goldman","caption":"Emma Goldman","creditText":"PhotoQuest / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health/","name":"health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4208056/emma-goldman-1916-birth-control/","name":"Read Emma Goldman's 1916 Letter Defending the Need for Birth Control"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The History of Birth Control","description":"For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. 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