In 1916, Margaret Sanger visited Chicago to give a speech against Comstock laws and in support of birth control clinics.[5] The speech drew around 1,200 people and "inspired the creation of the Illinois Birth Control League."[5] By 1919, the league had been set up and was advertised in the Birth Control Review.[6] In 1923, the IBCL opened its first birth control clinic, which was directed by Rachelle Yarros.[5] This clinic was the second of its kind in the United States.[2] The clinics enabled women who could not afford a private physician to receive practical family planning advice.[7] Originally, the clinics were meant to be free clinics, but the city would not grant them the necessary license from the health commissioner.[7] Because of this, the IBCL charged a "nominal fee" to give out oral information about birth control.[8] In 1924, the IBCL was again denied a permit for the clinic to operate as a public clinic where information could be given out for free.[9] IBCL opened a second birth control office in 1925.[10] By 1937, over 20,000 women had been seen by the several clinics run by IBCL.[7]
The IBCL and other women continued to fight against laws preventing the dissemination of information about birth control in Illinois during the late 1920s.[11] In 1934, the IBCL, along with the Chicago Woman's Club, the Birth Control League and the Social Hygiene League of Chicago created a resolution, backed by three hundred women, to allow social workers to discuss family planning and to refer clients to birth control clinics.[12][13]
IBCL incorporated in April 1924 with the name, "Illinois Birth Control League" with the mission of philanthropic and educational work relating to family planning.[14] The IBCL became the Planned Parenthood League of Illinois in 1946, and then later, the Planned Parenthood Association, Chicago Area in 1947.[14] Peggy Carr was the last president of the IBCL and oversaw the transition to Planned Parenthood.[15]