The minutes, correspondence, reports, surveys, newsletters, and printed material document the efforts of the Planned Parenthood League to provide birth control information and services to residents of the Detroit area and reflect the changing emphasis of the programs over the years. From its almost exclusive concentration on provision of contraceptive clinical services in its early years, Planned Parenthood came to offer such diverse programs as infertility counseling, a vasectomy service, sex education for teenagers and venereal disease detection. Correspondence with pharmaceutical companies in the 1960's and 1970's reflects the participation of Planned Parenthood League in tests of contraceptives, particularly oral contraceptives. Clinic surveys and statistical reports, along with information contained in annual reports (filed for the most part with board of directors minutes) document the medical services provided by the League.
The Detroit Chapter of the Birth Control League of Michigan was organized in 1932, one year after the founding of the Michigan Birth Control League. There had been organized efforts to provide contraceptive information in the Detroit area in the previous decade: in 1922, Margaret Sanger had lectured on the subject; and in 1927 the Mother's Clinic opened its doors to young women desiring contraceptive information. Two additional birth control clinics were established in 1931, at Harper Hospital and Woman's Hospital.
The Detroit league underwent several name changes in the succeeding decades. In 1934, following the lead of the state league with which it was affiliated, the Detroit organization changed its name to the Detroit Chapter of the Maternal Health League of Michigan. In 1942, it became the Detroit Chapter, Michigan League for Planned Parenthood. The name was again changed in 1944, to the Detroit League for Planned Parenthood, Inc. When the Michigan maternal Health League dissolved in 1953, the Detroit league became an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Finally, in 1960 the Detroit and Oakland County leagues merged to form Planned Parenthood League, Inc.
In its early years the organization concentrated on operating birth control clinics and providing contraceptive information; it assumed responsibility for financing the Harper Clinic in 1933. The league soon expanded its education and publicity activities, establishing an information booth at the Michigan State Fair for the first time in 1939. In the 1940's and 1950's the league attempted to reach industrial workers by distributing leaflets through their unions and mailing brochures to women in neighborhoods served by the clinics.
Although the concept of birth control gained increasing acceptance from the 1940's onward, Planned Parenthood continued to face opposition, particularly from religious groups. It was not until 1967, after years of applying, that Planned Parenthood was finally accepted as a non-financial member of the United Community Services of metropolitan Detroit.
Population control was a major goal of the organization, but through the years Planned Parenthood broadened its program to include the goals of child spacing and maternal and child health. A project in venereal disease detection was begun in 1966; it later became a regular clinic service. In 1969 Infertility Diagnostic and Counseling Service was started and in 1971 a vasectomy service was offered. From 1969 through 1976 Planned Parenthood League received grants form the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to be used in conjunction with the Detroit and Wayne County health departments for family planning services. In 1972 Planned Parenthood League turned the granteeship over to the Southeastern Michigan Family Planning Project (SEMFPP), a newly-formed community corporation comprised of service-providing agencies. Planned Parenthood League terminated its federal family planning grant in 1976, but maintained its clinical facilities and educational programs. While the board had voted in 1949 not to provide clinical services for "premarital women" or unwed mothers, by the 1970's the league was even targeting many of its programs toward teenagers. After the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, Planned Parenthood League initiated abortion counseling and referral services. Despite periodic financial crises, Planned Parenthood League continued through the 1970's to provide sex education, reproductive health care information, and medical services, and to work toward its goal of gaining universal acceptance of the notion of family planning.
