The History of the Pill, and the Man Who Co-created It
The History of the Pill, and the Man Who Co-created It
Carl Djerassi, the doctor who synthesized a key hormone in the birth control pill, died Friday at his San Francisco home. He was 91 and suffered from complications with liver and bone cancer.
(the following is from the spring 2010 issue of Ms, honouring the 50th anniversary of the pill)
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Yet it might not have happened. In the 1950s, no institutions were willing to fund research on contraceptives. Pharmaceutical companies would not touch it, afraid of a boycott by the powerful Catholic Church. The U.S. government also shunned the project. President Eisenhower insisted that birth control was disreputable and not the business of the government (he later changed his mind). No agencies provided support—not the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation or any research foundations.
But two feminists, birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger and longtime women’s rights activist Katharine McCormick, teamed up to realize their dream of a contraceptive that would be completely controlled by women. Sanger had extensive knowledge and contacts through her years of leadership in the birth control movement. McCormick, one of the first women to graduate from MIT and a wealthy widow, had the scientific knowledge and the money. Together they found the scientists and provided the funding for the project.
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The Pill was not only a tool for women to control their individual lives; it also propelled them to challenge large public institutions. Catholic women defied the church’s ban on contraception, weakening the authority of church leaders. Within a few short years, Catholic women were taking the Pill at the same rate as non-Catholic women. Activists in the women’s health movement insisted that policymakers require pharmaceutical companies to provide information about side effects and risks in each packet of pills so that women could make considered decisions about their health. They pushed for new laws and court challenges to remove barriers so that both married and unmarried women could have access to contraception.
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But none of this could have happened without the feminist movement. Without women’s empowerment, the Pill would have been just one more contraceptive—more effective and convenient, but not revolutionary. Thanks to feminism, the Pill enabled women not only to control their fertility but to change their lives.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/02/02/the-history-of-the-pill-and-the-man-who-co-created-it/