Preview

Birth Control Pill

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1537 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Birth Control Pill
The Little Pill That Could
In a time when women had no freedom other than being housewives and baby factories, one woman took a stand for every woman 's rights as a human being. In the late 1800s birth control, a term coined by Margaret Sanger in her newspaper, Women Rebel, in 1914, was considered to be immoral by most religious groups. Sanger pleaded with society to implement some form of birth control so as to give aid to her fellow women who were looked on as nothing more than objects that would bend to the will of man.
The birth control pill was the brainchild of Margaret Sanger and Katherine McCormick, who later petitioned Gregory Pincus to give life to their dreams of a "simple, cheap, and safe contraceptive" (Sanger qtd. in Brown). Pincus then recruited Russell Marker who had changed a cholesterol from sarsaparilla roots into human "pregnancy hormone," progesterone. Marker 's work was later taken up by Frank Colton. "It was Colton 's version of the birth control pill that, in 1954, Pincus and gynecologist John Rock chose to field-test" (Brown). After clinical trials on 6,000 women in Puerto Rico and Haiti, the first commercially produced birth control pill, Envoid-10, was marketed in the United States. The birth control pill is a combination of estrogen and progestin that prevents ovulation and pregnancy. The birth control pill, commonly referred to as "The Pill", was licensed by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960. According to David Allyn, it was herald as a "revolutionary invention, a medical triumph over human biology". By 1962 1.2 million women were taking The Pill, 5 million within five years, and by 1973, about 10 million (LEDA). The Pill has made a great and positive impact on today 's society. The birth of The Pill opened new opportunities for women other than just being a housewife or a mother. It allowed them to have new career choices. The Pill changed the way people think about relationships or sexual relationships and also brought



Cited: Brown, Nancy Marie. "The Life of the Pill." Mar. 1995. 05 Sep. 2005 Cohen , Sandy. "Birth Control Pills Helped Empower Women, Changed the World." 17 Jul. 2005. 05 Sep. 2005 Feldman, Rita. "A Pill A Day" 05 Sep. 2005. Health24.com. "Benefits Beyond Birth Control." 05 Sep. 2005 Legal Electronic Document Archive. 05 Sep. 2005 London School of Economics and Political Science. "Birth Control Rights: The Impact on Women 's Wellbeing." 18 Jul. 2005. 05 Sep. 2005 USC Student Computing Facility. "The Birth of the Pill." 05 Sep. 2005

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Americans are influenced by the government and it affects many of their medical decisions including those of birth control. Birth control controversies in the United States have been a prevalent topic for many years. In fact, the earliest known usage of contraceptives dates back to ancient Egypt. “Over time, other methods of birth control were invented and tested, including vaginal sponges, diaphragms, and intrauterine devices or IUDs” (“Birth Control”). The usage of such contraceptives became controversial and a main topic when it came to political races. The Democratic and Republican opposing viewpoints on modern birth control affect the country and the medical choices people make depending on its availability and distribution, parental consent, and sexuality education classes.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1960 Birth Control – New technology also played a part in the sexual revolution. The birth control pill, introduced in 1960, not only prevented pregnancy but also made sex more convenient.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Moss

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why birth control is so crucial to the transformation in women’s lives that feminists anticipated?…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The one issue upon which there seems to be most uncertainty and disagreement exists in the moral side of the subject of Birth Control.”(Margaret Sanger) Margaret Sanger is an American birth control activist, sex educator, and nurse. She is the author of The Morality of birth Control, a speech that was delivered on November 18, 1921 in New York. This speech was given at a time when the church forbids birth control and women were made to focus on having babies and being housewives. Sanger explicitly persuaded an audience of her colleagues, theologians, scientists, and the people. She accomplished this with the use of rhetorical devices such as,…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The history of birth control dates back for many years. The fight to have it legalized was initially started by a woman named Margaret Sanger. This passion and motivation ultimately stemmed from Margaret's own family tragedy: watching her mother die of tuberculosis after bearing eleven children. When Margaret found work as a visiting nurse in New York after her mother's death, she realized so many women lacked effective contraceptives, which ultimately led to them having abortions. After experiencing her mother's death on top of all these tragedies in New York, Margaret was even more determined to create a better means of contraceptives (American Experience, 2001). In the beginning of the 20th century, birth control was not part exactly the…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The pill was officially legalized in America in 1960, but there were other methods of childprevention before it. The most common forms of birth control used then were condoms and…

    • 2667 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Furthermore, in the 1800’s the Comstock law was created, that made birth control and other contraceptives “obscene and illicit” (PBS). Other states followed the Comstock Law as well, creating their own versions of that law which banned contraceptives. The strictest states were Massachusetts and Connecticut, people were not allowed to share information about contraceptives, or even use them. Even married couples were not allowed to use contraceptives with this law, if they were found using contraceptives, they could of been arrested as well as be sentenced to a year in prison. These laws stayed the same for many years, until Margaret Sanger came along. She is seen as an impactful women in reproductive health access. She challenged the Comstock law by opening the first…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From 1914, when the term “birth control” was first created, to 100 years later, 99 percent of sexually active women report using at least one form of birth control at some point in their lives (Planned Parenthood, 2016). This drastic change causing contraception to be more readily available is chiefly credited to Margaret Sanger; who began a major reform, known as the birth control movement in the early 20th century. In Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement, this progress towards women’s rights described; specifically regarding new laws and new public roles available for women outside of the typical domestic spheres present during this time period.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women both politically and socially were looked down on if they wanted birth control. Margaret Sanger opened up the first clinic for birth control in 1916, which was illegal. Conservatives did not want contraceptives to be available because they thought it would stop womenildren. Christina Simmons in Birth Control, marriage, and women’s sexuality from Oxford University Press Blog on October 30, 2012 said, "In the second wave of feminism, women whether single or married, had the right to have birth control. Margaret Sanger said that just because they wanted or needed birth control or a contraceptive did not make them prostitutes. Margaret Sanger, from The Woman Rebel, No Gods No Masters on March 1914. “No plagues, famine or wars could ever frighten…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Margaret Sanger

    • 5150 Words
    • 21 Pages

    Margaret Sanger founded a movement in this country that would institute such a change in the course of our biological history that it is still debated today. Described by some as a "radiant rebel", Sanger pioneered the birth control movement in the United States at a time when Victorian hypocrisy and oppression through moral standards were at their highest. Working her way up from a nurse in New York's poor Lower East Side to the head of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Margaret Sanger was unwavering in her dedication to the movement that would eventually result in lower infant mortality rates and better living conditions for the impoverished. But, because of the way that her political strategy changed and evolved, Margaret Sanger is seen by some as a hypocrite; a rags to riches story that involves a complete withdrawal from her commitment to the poorer classes. My research indicates that this is not the case; in fact, by all accounts Margaret Sanger was a brave crusader who recognized freedom and choice in a woman's reproductive life as vital to the issue of the liberation of women as a gender. Moreover, after years of being blocked by opposition, Sanger also recognized the need to shift political strategies in order to keep the movement alive. Unfortunately, misjudgments made by her in this area have left Margaret Sanger's legacy open to criticism. In this paper, I would like to explore Margaret Sanger's life and career as well as become aware of some of the missteps that she made and how they reflect on both.…

    • 5150 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Margaret Sanger

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sanger founded the Birth Control Review, a publication favoring contraception as a means of limiting society's birth rate.…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Representing the side for prescription usage is Dr. Christopher Gacek and Moira Gaul of the Family Research Council. In their article “Plan B: A Grave Threat to Women’s Health” published in August of 2006, Gacek argues, “Birth control pills, which are essentially a lower dose regimen of Plan B, requires a prescription” (Gacek 1). He later goes on to say birth control pills require an appointment with a licensed doctor to determine contraindications, obtain a prescription, and they must provide medical oversight throughout the usage period of the birth control. Birth control pills are available only for medical reasons because they can cause significant or life-threatening conditions such as blood clots and heart attacks. Their contraindicated…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was founded by Margaret Sanger, who became interested in birth control after becoming a medical trained nurse and would see the effects of poor women conducting illegally or self done abortions. Sanger created pamphlets or books educating women on sex, birth control, and abortions. Due to the Comstocks Act of 1873, which prohibited sending mail about sex or birth control, Margaret Sanger would defy these laws and continue publishing and informing women. Around 1915, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, the first in the United States, and later police closed down the clinic and arrested Sanger. Sanger then petitioned to “allow doctors to distribute birth-control information and to staff clinics” (McPherson).…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In 1960 the birth control pill was passed and approved by the U.S Food and Drug administration. Ever since then, the pill has been transformed into a choice of a shot every three months or everyday orally taking the pill.…

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Family Planning

    • 3443 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Combined oral contraceptives. Introduced in 1960, "the Pill" has played an instrumental role in family planning for decades.…

    • 3443 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays