#wabac machine

Modern life isn’t perfect, but there are definitely some perks--like a whole lot more options when it comes to birth control. But what methods were couples using in the days of yore, while dialing land lines and watching Bewitched? Let’s get in the WABAC machine and find out!

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The birth control revolution really got rolling in the 1950s. Planned Parenthood grew to include 200 birth control clinics across the nation, and Margaret Sanger teamed up with millionaire Katherine McCormick to fund additional research into oral contraceptives. Once funded, the research to develop the pill progressed rapidly, with a version ready for testing on a small scale by 1954.

When initial tests of the progesterone pill were successful, the researchers leading the effort needed to conduct a larger-scale test on human subjects to secure FDA approval. They chose a housing project in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for their research--since laws banning birth control made a large trial difficult in the United States--oblivious to the later criticism they would face for exploiting poor women of color who were not informed of the experimental nature of the trial. (Today we have "informed consent" standards designed to keep this from happening.)

When no woman became pregnant during the trial, the researchers declared it a success despite a high rate of reported side effects and the deaths of three women during the trial (without an investigation to find out whether drug complications contributed to their deaths). Though the early pill was effective at preventing pregnancy, today it's widely acknowledged that its unnecessarily high dose of hormones led to side effects for many women.

With a pill proven to prevent pregnancy, Margaret Sanger’s finish line was in sight--and the rest of the U.S., dependent mainly on barrier methods, was about to enter a new era.

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BW's Saturday Night Showcase: Mr. Peabody & Sherman

I was hoping to have some convention floor interviews up tonight but I didn’t quite make it. So instead, with all the hoopla over the Mr. Peabody And Sherman movie, I bring you the first episode of the television show, complete with the origin of the pair and their time-traveling closet. (Which they decided to go all EXTREME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 for the movie.

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Modern life isn’t perfect, but there are definitely some perks--like a whole lot more options when it comes to birth control. But what methods were couples using in the days of yore, while dialing land lines and watching Bewitched? Let’s get in the WABAC machine and find out!

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The development of modern birth control methods began with the invention of rubber vulcanization in the 1800s. But while European countries quickly adopted barrier methods (condoms and diaphragms) made with the new rubber, the United States was slower to catch on, held back by restrictive "Comstock laws" that made the sale or distribution of birth control--or even information about it--illegal. 

That all started to change thanks to the efforts of nurse and activist Margaret Sanger. Sanger worked vigorously to spread knowledge about and improve access to birth control throughout the U.S. Most women in Sanger’s time relied on natural family planning (a.k.a. fertility awareness), withdrawal, and dubious methods like Lysol douching. (Please join us in saying “Yikes!” to that one.) In 1916, Sanger opened a family planning clinic in Brooklyn where she offered advice and fittings for “pessaries”--diaphragms and cervical caps in modern lingo--which she imported from Europe in spite of the Comstock laws. Sanger’s clinic was open a whopping nine days before she was arrested.

Sanger’s trial and conviction didn’t halt her determination to bring access to reliable birth control to the public...But you'll have to check back next week for our 1920s and 30s installment of this column to learn more about that.

Sanger certainly has her critics, and she’s earned them. (She was a noted eugenicist who openly acknowledged supporting birth control as a means of slowing the reproductive rate of New York’s impoverished classes.) Still, the progress she made started a movement that would help many women take control of their fertility. 

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Modern life isn’t perfect, but there are definitely some perks--like a whole lot more options when it comes to birth control. But what methods were couples using in the days of yore, while dialing land lines and watching Bewitched? Let’s get in the WABAC machine and find out!

*****

In the 1980s, growing public awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic made condoms more popular than ever as people increasingly looked to prevent sexually transmitted infections in addition to pregnancy. Condoms became more widely available (in vending machines and schools, for example), and were heavily advertised as tools for safe sex.

As more research was done on the health effects of hormones, lower-dose birth control pills continued to gain ground. Non-hormonal barrier methods like the sponge (which debuted in 1983) and the diaphragm, which had been extremely popular before the advent of the pill, came into the limelight after the Dalkon Shield made many women wary of IUDs.

The silver lining? The decade’s health scares pushed the conversation around sexual health out into the open, allowing more folks to easily access information about safe sex and birth control.

Modern life isn’t perfect, but there are definitely some perks--like a whole lot more options when it comes to birth control. But what methods were couples using in the days of yore, while dialing land lines and watching Bewitched? Let’s get in the WABAC machine and find out!

*****

The first birth control pills had way higher doses of hormones than today's pills and the Senate held hearings in 1970 about their safety. Lower-dose birth control pills were manufactured after the risks of high doses of estrogen to women’s health were brought to light.

The Supreme Court’s 1972 Baird v. Eisenstadt ruling established that all women had a right to access birth control. The struggles for access of the 1960s were over—but new problems were on the horizon.

IUDs were trendy in the 70s, and one popular brand, the Dalkon Shield, turned out to have a flawed design that caused serious health problems and damaged the IUD’s reputation for many years. What could have been the heyday of one of the most effective methods instead turned a generation of women away from IUDs for good.

The silver lining? After Dalkon, the FDA began thoroughly vetting all medical devices, making future birth control innovations safer for everyone. Today, IUDs are one of the safest, most effective methods around, and have finally earned their spot in the limelight.

Groovy;)

Modern life isn’t perfect, but there are definitely some perks--like a whole lot more options when it comes to birth control. But what methods were couples using in the days of yore, while dialing land lines and watching Bewitched? Let’s get in the WABAC machine and find out!

*****

Before hormonal contraceptives made their debut in the U.S., barrier methods (previous versions of condoms and cervical barriers) and fertility awareness/withdrawal were all an enterprising lady had to rely on if she wanted to avoid pregnancy. In a decade when many women were fighting for the right to be taken seriously in the workplace and to achieve equality with men, lack of a reliable, relatively easy-to-use birth control method was a serious hurdle.

Then, in 1960, the FDA approved the first birth control pill, Enovid (a.k.a. Enovoid).

Enovid was a high-dose estrogen pill that was sometimes difficult to obtain--it was common for doctors to refuse to prescribe it on "moral grounds." In 1965 the Supreme Court ruled that married couples had a right to use birth control as an extension of the Constitution’s "right to privacy," but single women were frequently SOL if they didn’t have a sympathetic doc.

Enovid was eventually discontinued, but it revolutionized how people thought about birth control and demonstrated the widespread desire for more and better options.

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