History of Birth Control Pill

Birth control pill is the most popular method of contraceptive world wide. Today many birth control pills like Yasmin, Lybrel, Alesse and many others manufactured by different pharmaceutical companies are available in the market. The reason for their popularity is ‘convenience’, unlike sterilization, birth control pills are not permanent; it is for temporary use i.e. they can be taken till the time a women is not ready to start a family and can also be used for proper family planning.

Though, birth control pills are popular but there are many people who are still naïve about their origin. The hard work and efforts put by the scientists who invented it and the endless support given by the great women who made this invention of the first contraceptive pill possible is little known by people, not even by those who use these pills. Therefore, I found it worth writing about the origin or history of birth control pills which extremely contributes to the elevation of a woman’s status.

Since ancient times birth control was an issue. We can even see the word “abstinence” being mentioned many times in the bible. Aristotle, Pliny and even Casanova talk about abstinences and spermicides. Human reproduction was understood only in the 1800’s when the scientists of that time discovered the female egg and its importance in reproduction. Earlier it was considered that men were the life creator while women were just the nest. From then on the approach to birth control took a different turn. Devices like condoms, sponges, douching syringes (injection in the uterus with birth control solution after intercourse), diaphragms and cervical caps started being widely used but some of them were not at all safe.

Katherine McCormick, Margaret Sanger, Dr. John Rock and Gregory Pincus are the names to reckon with, without their zeal and hard work the birth of contraceptive in the form of a pill would not have been possible. I would especially want to give kudos to Katherine McCormick.

Katherine McCormick was born in 1875 in a wealthy family in Dexter, Michigan. In 1904, she became one of the first women to graduate in a degree of science (biology) from Massachusetts institute of technology. She got married to Stanley McCormick, heir to the International Harvester Company fortune, who later suffered from schizophrenia. Believing that schizophrenia is hereditary Katherine McCormick vowed not to have any children. Therefore, contraceptives became her prime concern. She was involved in many philanthropic works and was also a women’s right activist. McCormick believed that as much as the right to vote for women is important so is the right to control her body. She helped Margaret Sanger, a birth control activist by supporting her cause in many ways.

When her husband died in 1947, she became the sole inheritor of his property and a wealthy widow; she was 75 years of age then. Along with Sanger she envisioned a birth control method which could be taken in the pill form. Accordingly they met a scientist called Gregory Pincus who was equally interested in developing a birth control pill. Gregory was researching on progesterone and believed that it could be used as an anti-ovulent and could be developed as a contraceptive. He had already tested and proved progesterone to work on animals but could not move further with the research due to lack of funds. McCormick asked him to immediately restart the research and handed him a check of $40,000 which was quite a fortune that time.

Wanting the pill to be developed in her life time, McCormick moved from her Santa Barbara home to the east where the research lab was located. She time and again asked the scientist to hurry up the project. Dr. John Rock joined Pincus and together they did their first trial on human beings. The progesterone pills were tested on 50 women who administered them for 21 days with seven days break for menstruations. The human trial was a success, not even one out of the 50 women tested ovulated while on the pill. This laid the foundation of the birth of Enovid, the first contraceptive pill. In 1960 FDA approved Enovid as a birth control pill.

Today many new pills are available in the pharmaceutical circuit. You can opt for Yasmin birth control or Lybrel birth control, as per the prescription given by your doctor. But while buying spare a moment for these great people without whom it would not have been possible to develop birth control pills. Great honor and acclaims should be given to the scientists that they without question deserve. However, the name of Katherine McCormick the real person behind the development of birth control pill and the sole financier, is today forgotten. Great injustice is done by us for not knowing and remembering the selfless women who paved the way for our liberation. Therefore, let us all give a toss to her, remembering that it is only because of her that today we can opt for family planning and pursue our career without the hassle of periods and unwanted pregnancies. Kudos! Katherine McCormick.