Mary Ware Dennett

(1872 - 1947)

An advocate for sex-education reform and unrestricted access to contraceptives, Mary Ware Dennett sparred with Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, who favored doctor-prescribed birth control; Dennett feared this restriction would allow access to be determined by affluence. She was convicted for mailing “obscene” materials under the Comstock Act, but in 1930 a judge overturned the ruling, declaring the pamphlets to be serious and scientifically accurate.