Federal Expansion, Fertility Control, and Physicians in the United States: The Politics of Maternal Welfare in the Interwar Years

This article reconsiders connections between the movements for birth control and maternal and infant welfare in the early-twentieth-century United States. I argue that since both movements were dedicated to lowering infant and maternal mortality rates and ameliorating the harsh conditions surrounding maternity, motherhood, and infancy, their separateness and even rivalry require examination by historians. Among the most important factors that shaped the distinct political trajectories of each movement were the strategic alliances they forged and their perspectives on and positions within the growing welfare state.