Before the advent of birth control, many women were forced to endure multiple pregnancies, having no reliable way of preventing conception. This lead to one of the most important innovations in health care. The advent of birth control pills and other methods of contraception such as condoms and intrauterine devices, which are now readily available, is easily one of the most taken for granted conveniences of the modern age. By looking into the history of birth control, we can better appreciate the important role that contraception plays in our lives.



Prior to any developed methods of birth control, women had to rely on male withdrawal (coitus interurptus), and on infanticide and crude methods of abortion for backup. Some women died from botched abortions, while others died while giving birth because their bodies were too weak or too exhausted to carry another child to term. Birth control methods such as the rhythm method and withdrawal were even mentioned in the Bible, and continue to be offically sanctioned by the Catholic Church.

The earliest known form of birth control is the condom, which was used by the ancient Egyptians around 3000 BC and clearly depicted in drawings of that period. These rudimentary condoms were thought to be made of such materials as fish bladders, linen sheaths, and animal intestines. Another early form of contraception is the pessary, which were objects or concoctions inserted into the vagina to block or kill sperm. Ingredients for pessaries included: a base of dung (usually from crocodiles), a mixture of honey and natural sodium carbonate forming a kind of gum. All were of a consistency which would melt at body temperature and form an impenetrable covering of the cervix. Another kind of pessary was a solid object to block the cervix, usually made of chopped grass or cloth, balls of bamboo tissue paper, or rolls of wool. Other women used homemade herbal douches to prevent pregnancy, but by far the most effective contraceptive device at the time was a sea sponge was wrapped in silk with a string attached.

Around 600 BC, Greek colonists discovered silphion, an herb often regarded as the first oral contraceptive. Unfortunately, it could not be cultivated and was harvested to extinction by 100 AD. In 1844, Charles Goodyear gets a patent for the process of rubber vulcanization. He quickly realizes that there were other practical applications for his invention, and mass production of rubber condoms, intrauterine devices, douching syringes, and diaphragms soon followed. Unlike modern condoms -- made to be used once and thrown away -- early condoms were washed, anointed with petroleum jelly, and put away in special wooden boxes for later reuse.

After her mother's death from birthing her eleventh sibling, nineteen year old Margaret Sanger became a nurse and advocate for the development of contraceptives for women. She later found an ally in Katherine McCormick, the wealthy widow of an inventor who funded the research for the creation of the birth control pill. Gregory Pincus, an American doctor and researcher had been studying hormonal biology and steroidal hormones, saw the role that hormones played in the conception of rabbits. With the financial backing from McCormick and Sanger, Pincus approached pharmaceutical company Searle to help them develop the birth control pill. Although Searle declined in the beginning, largely because of the austere birth control laws of the day, an accidental discovery by one of his scientists coupled with Pincus's research led the pharmaceutical company into production of the first oral contraceptive for women. In 1960, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Enovid, the first birth control pill. It was later found that Enovid caused terrible side effects, mostly because the dosage at the time was about ten times higher than was needed.

Today, after continuous research and development, women now have the birth control pill and other contraceptive drugs and devices to choose from to prevent unwanted pregnancies. This is a long way from the stifling laws in place from 1873 to 1965, when the Comstock laws deemed contraception as illegal. As society becomes increasingly permissive and open about sexual matters, women now have more power over their wombs, as well as in preventing the spread of diseases such as chlamydia and HIV-AIDS.