If Margaret Sanger were alive today, she might still lead the fight to protect women's rights for safe, reproductive health care. Sanger, a registered nurse and mother who lived from 1879 to 1966, spent much of her life as a champion for such rights and paved the way for women to use family planning and birth control.

Friday is Sanger's birthday, and in honor of her tireless work and dedication, several area organizations are throwing a party in her honor. Along with birthday cake and a little celebratory song, the party will feature a screening of the film "The Defenders: A History of the Birth Control Movement in Wisconsin."

The documentary, made by Madison filmmaker Emily Rumsey and Dawnee Dodson of Seattle, tells the largely yet untold history of how people, including Sanger, fought to give women safe, legal access to birth control. Along with historic film footage, "The Defenders" features personal, political, academic and medical interviews that bring this history to life.

It is a story that needs to be told today so that people of all ages remember that there was a time when women didn't have such rights, said Judy Hartig-Osanka, chair-elect of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Inc. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is one of the event's sponsors, along with Youth Connections, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the American Association of University Women.

"We want to raise the consciousness of the community to the importance of birth control and the importance of people being able to plan their families," Hartig-Osanka said. "The younger generation has grown up in an era when birth control has always been fully available. They might not understand what it took to bring us to that point, and some of the efforts that are happening today to reduce that access. It is something many of us take for granted."

The film's message is especially important in light of current state budget proposals that call for cuts that could result in the loss of $13 million in federal family planning funds and grants, she said. Such proposals also could result in the closure or reduction of services at 32 private family planning health centers in Wisconsin, eliminating funding for cervical and breast cancer screening, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment and access to birth control for up to 35,000 patients, many of whom reside in rural areas, according to Hartig-Osanka.

Despite some people's misperceptions, the issue at hand is really birth control, not abortion, said Marsha Connet, a strong supporter of women's issues and family planning in Racine. "When some people hear Planned Parenthood, all they can think about is abortion, but abortion is only 3 percent of what Planned Parenthood does," Connet said. "We are the biggest health care provider in the country. Here in Wisconsin we have 73,000 patients, many of whom are low income and have no access to other health care."

Some people also incorrectly associate Sanger with promoting abortion, Hartig-Osanka said. While Sanger passionately believed in a woman's right to control her body, she never promoted abortion because it was illegal and dangerous throughout her lifetime, she said.

Sanger's experiences working with women in tenement areas, where very high maternal and infant mortality rates and $5 "back-alley" abortions were prevalent, led her to urge the use of contraceptives so that women would not be at risk for the dangers of abortion at that time, Hartig-Osanka said.

Others also have falsely accused Sanger of being a racist, when she actually received praise from members of the black community, including Martin Luther King, for her work in the black communities such as Harlem and the rural south, she said.

"She fought for a long time, and went to jail nine times, to protect the rights of women everywhere to choose whether they wanted to be mothers," Hartig-Osanka said. "She wanted every child to be wanted and loved."

Hartig-Osanka and Connet urge everyone who believes in family planning to show their support for the work of Sanger, and others who followed in her footsteps, by coming to celebrate her birthday.

Friday's screening of "The Defenders" will be an abbreviated version of the full-length film, which debuted at Milwaukee's Oriental Theatre and at Madison's Historic Orpheum Theatre in September 2006. For more information about "The Defenders," go to

http://www.thedefendersmovie.com

More about Sanger's work can be found at http://ppfa.org (do a site search for Margaret Sanger, Fact Sheet).

If You Go

WHAT: Birthday party for Margaret Sanger and screening of "The Defenders: A History of the Birth Control Movement in Wisconsin."

WHEN: 5 p.m. Friday. Reception will start at 5, followed by the film and discussion at 5:45.

WHERE: The Racine Building at Gateway Technical College, 901 Pershing Drive. Parking in Lot D.

COST: Free.

INFO: Call Judy Hartig-Osanka, (262) 639-0780.