<P> Goldman's circle of radicals, socialists, and bohemians was joined in 1912 by a nurse, Margaret Sanger, whose mother had been through 18 pregnancies in 22 years, and died at age 50 of tuberculosis and cervical cancer . In 1913, Sanger worked in New York's Lower East Side, often with poor women who were suffering due to frequent childbirth and self - induced abortions . After one particularly tragic medical case, Sanger wrote: "I threw my nursing bag in the corner and announced...that I would never take another case until I had made it possible for working women in America to have the knowledge to control birth ." Sanger visited public libraries, searching for information on contraception, but nothing was available . She became outraged that working - class women could not obtain contraception, yet upper - class women who had access to private physicians could . </P> <P> Under the influence of Goldman and the Free Speech League, Sanger became determined to challenge the Comstock laws that outlawed the dissemination of contraceptive information . With that goal in mind, in 1914 she launched The Woman Rebel, an eight - page monthly newsletter which promoted contraception using the slogan "No Gods, No Masters", and proclaimed that each woman should be "the absolute mistress of her own body ." Sanger coined the term birth control, which first appeared in the pages of Rebel, as a more candid alternative to euphemisms such as family limitation . </P> <P> Sanger's goal of challenging the law was fulfilled when she was indicted in August 1914, but the prosecutors focused their attention on articles Sanger had written on assassination and marriage, rather than contraception . Afraid that she might be sent to prison without an opportunity to argue for birth control in court, she fled to England to escape arrest . </P> <P> While Sanger was in Europe, her husband continued her work, which led to his arrest after he distributed a copy of a birth control pamphlet to an undercover postal worker . The arrest and his 30 - day jail sentence prompted several mainstream publications, including Harper's Weekly and the New - York Tribune, to publish articles about the birth control controversy . Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman toured the country, speaking in support of the Sangers, and distributing copies of Sanger's pamphlet Family Limitation . Sanger's exile and her husband's arrest propelled the birth control movement into the forefront of American news . </P>

The first modern speech case arose immediately after world war i