Margaret Sanger. Portrait of Margaret Sanger (1883-1966), American birth control pioneer, aged 35. Sanger's work as a nurse amongst the poor of New York convinced her of the need for information on contraception to be distributed. Its distribut- ion was banned by the Comstock Law of 1873. She opened the first US birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York, in 1916. Despite being impris- oned at one point, she won the right for doctors to give contraceptive advice to their patients. She founded the American Birth Control League and Birth Control Review, a monthly magazine. She also helped to secure finance to support Gregory Pincus' development of the contraceptive pill.