Women’s Fight Equality During the pre-civil war period of 1820-1860, vast CHANGES in society were occurring. Conflicts between the NORTH and South were increasing in number and intensity, and many advocators of abolition and women’s rights began to gain recognition and supporters. This was a period of great change in the United States, particularly for women. In fact, this is when women began to actively give their support to a wide-range of reforms. Many supported the abolition movement and the temperance movement. With the majority of women advocating for the highly visible abolition and temperance movements, disunity fell upon the women’s right movement.…show more content…However, by 1860 women were receiving the same educational privileges as men, therefore accomplishing their goal of educational equality. A woman by the name of Elizabeth Blackwell was the first modern woman to graduate from medical school in 1849, proving that women can be as intelligent as men, and sometimes even their superior. (Franck 134)In the early 1800’s, family sizes were enormous, averaging seven children per household, and women knew very little of how to control pregnancy. The wide-spread knowledge of contraception was not present until the LATE 1820’s when speeches and books were starting to appear. The first book, MORAL Physiology, advocating Birth Control was published in 1830 by Robert Owens. After that there was an abundance of books dealing with contraception. FANNY Wright was a well-known public speaker and motivator for women’s rights who spoke out about contraception. (Rappaport 113-114)These methods helped to educate women on how to prevent pregnancy.