Planned Parenthood

The Rockefeller family, especially John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was an early advocate of Margaret Sanger’s pioneering work in birth control as a means of improving maternal and public health. In 1942, when Sanger’s Birth Control Federation of America joined the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the RBF began its own support for the organization. This was a cause in which founding trustee John D. Rockefeller 3^rd took particular interest. Gifts from the Fund helped Planned Parenthood launch programs in child spacing, prenatal medical care, public education, and special projects in African American communities. The Fund significantly contributed to Planned Parenthood’s national and New York City-based capital campaigns, and enabled the National Research Council’s Committee on Human Reproduction, acting as Planned Parenthood’s research arm, to increase knowledge about infertility, maternal and neo-natal mortality, clinical disorders, and population issues. RBF support for the organization continued through 1975.