Sanger’s mother had 18 kids. I wonder which ones she would have wished to abort.
Her mother died young so Sanger decided it was from having too many kids and went off to save others from the terrible fate of Childbirth./s/
She outlived my grandfather by around 13 years.
Women did die in childbirth "back in the day." In fact, though it is less common, they still do. Women, men, and children died from a great many things that are less common causes of death, at least in the US, today: tuberculosis, pneumonia, heart defects (many now easily corrected with surgery), diabetes, appendicitis, gangrene, typhoid, cholera, dehydration, influenza, being kicked in the head by a horse, malaria, falling out of a tree, all manner of industrial and farm accidents, infections following severe burns, snakebite, and on and on and on....