Happy Birthday, the Pill
Fifty years ago on Sunday, U.S. authorities announced the release a contraceptive device for women in the form of a swallowable tablet. The pill, as it has come to be known, has revolutionized sex, as well as given women control over their bodies when it comes to reproductive health.
Fifty years ago on Sunday, U.S. authorities announced the release a contraceptive device for women in the form of a swallowable tablet. The pill, as it has come to be known, has revolutionized sex, as well as given women control over their bodies when it comes to reproductive health.
Of course, women still do not have complete control over their bodies, as a number of states have passed laws restricting abortions. –JCL
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…The BBC:
It is 50 years since the pill was first approved as a contraceptive, finally divorcing sex from pregnancy. But half a century on, our relationship with the tablet credited with revolutionising women’s lives is not always an easy one.
On 9 May, 1960, the American authorities announced they would allow a hormonal pill previously used for gynaecological complaints to be prescribed as contraception. Over the next decade, a string of other Western countries from Australia to the UK would follow suit.
Science, changing social attitudes and even fears about overpopulation in communist states all conspired to make the pill possible.
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Women
A pharmacist and public health expert explain this new era in contraception.
Taxpayer-funded clinics in the Title X program for low-income women are barred from making abortion referrals.
Trading in contraceptive methods for shame- and abstinence-based programs "is wrong, it's bad for public health, and it’s outside the law," a plaintiff says of the federal guidelines.
Educators and health researchers worry that youth pregnancies could climb again with the Trump administration's stance on prevention and sex ed programs.
The president issues new rules allowing more employers to opt out of providing no-cost contraceptives to women by claiming religious or moral objections.
The Reproductive Health Equity Act requires health insurers to offer birth control and abortion without charging patients a copay.
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