Margaret Sanger, an American Women's Rights activist, was the person who first coined the term "Birth control" when she started offering it with her American Birth Control League. Condoms were invented in the early 1800s but women had very few options for contraceptives that they had control over. Birth control first came under fire in the US in the 1840s as many states banned or limited contraception due to religious influences. Women were not pleased about this. World War 1 brought back condoms into the public view to prevent vernal diseases men would contract while sleeping around abroad. Women still had no form of birth control to purchase, and that's when Sanger stepped in. She was arrested for offering birth control but in 1921 opened the precursor to Planned Parenthood. In 1950, Sanger secured funding from her husband and got scientists to start working on the pill. The pill was first tested on humans in 1954 and the trial was successful. Clinical trials are conducted in Puerto Rico and the pill is found to be almost 100% effective, despite having some side effects. The pill was approved for the treatment of severe menstrual disorders in 1957, which increased the number of women reporting severe menstrual disorders. In 1960, the pill was finally FDA approved for pregnancy prevention and it caught on fast. Within a year, 1.2 million women in the US were taking the pill. Contraceptives were still illegal in many states which lead to the pills being smuggled across state lines or passed among friends. Contraceptives were legalized by the Supreme Court for married couples in 1965 and single women in 1972. The original pill did have some pretty serious issues. The amount of hormones in the pill was much greater than the amounts given today and after a congressional hearing, new safety warnings were added to the pill. The use of the pill had fluctuated since 1980, but there are now over 40 brands of oral contraceptives for women.
It's somewhat baffling that it took until 1972 for single women to have the right to use contraceptives (that date is in many of our parent's lifetimes) but the pill provided women with the crucial ability to plan their families and build careers before having children. Without this innovation, many more women would have been stuck at home raising children instead of working for societal advancements.
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-control-pill/480/
https://www.allure.com/story/history-of-birth-control
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/sep/12/health.medicineandhealth
It's interesting to note that as the blog says, condoms were manufactured since the mid 19th century. However, condoms were still illegal because they were stigmatized by a religious America. This was covered briefly in the documentary, but in 1957, the pill is approved by the FDA but they could only be prescribed for menstrual disorders and not actually be used as a form of birth control. However, everyone started having these "disorders" because they all wanted a reliable form of birth control. It's interesting that condoms were not the main focus and instead, much of the 20th century was focused on this new type of birth control. It would take almost 100 years after its invention for condoms to be legal as well as a supreme court case for the pill to be made legal in all 50 states.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-control-pill/480/
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1964/496
I really liked how you included the fact that it happened within our parents lifetimes. It really shows how close this issue is to our time period and how relevant it is. Birth control has been an issue us humans have been trying to resolve. Since 3000 bc, we have made condoms from fish bladders and animal intestines. Much later in 1916 Margaret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic and tried to keep it open despite arrests and prosecutions. As the blog said, by 1972 the pill was made available for everyone. Fast forward to now, we are still fighting to prevent STI's and provide more options for men. Despite the movement beginning in the 1960's, it is still affecting us today 60 years later.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book-excerpts/health-article/a-brief-history-of-birth-control/