Video: The Pill
8-24-03
0:02:00 to 0:57:09
Before the pill, women had 12, 15, or 18 children and died early. Comstock laws criminalized sale of contraceptives and the dissemination of birth control information in thirty states. By 1951 Margaret Sanger, in search for a contraceptive pill, was introduced to Gregory Pinkus, a reproductive physiologist. Most women were married at age 19. More than half were pregnant within the first seven months. The purpose of going to college was to find a husband. Once married women's role was limited. She was expected to go from absolute celibacy to full-blown sexuality with one's husband and then faced with three decades of child bearing, without the ability to control pregnancy. It wasn't socially acceptable to even talk about contraception, because of a fear that contraception would create promiscuity. Sermons from the Catholic Church were as severe as "If you practice birth control, the faces of your unborn children will haunt you on your death bed." Hysterectomies were done a few weeks after giving birth. Patients bled a lot.
In 1953 Margaret Sanger met Catherine McCormick, who became her patron. McCormick had a degree in biology and she was interested in the development of reliable contraceptives. Birth control was a pre-condition for women's liberation. McCormick wrote a $40,000 check with a promise of more to come. Pinkus injected progesterone into lab animals and demonstrated the cessation of ovulation. Injections in humans would be too awkward and costly. Pinkus was not a physician and cold not give contraceptives to women. John Rock, an obstetrician and a Catholic, had delivered too many unwanted babies. He was interested in the project even though the Comstock laws could ruin his career. He was intellectually curious. D. J. Searle, a young pharmaceutical company, was interested in developing a pill. In the Winter 1954, under the guise of a fertility study and at the risk of a felony, he gave the pill to 50 women. Not one woman ovulated. But getting approval of the FDA would require a large scale human trial.
Puerto Rico had a network of birth control clinics and no Comstock laws. G. D. Searle was willing to provide the pill. The program was started in Puerto Rico in April 1956 with progesterone to stop ovulation and estrogen to reduce discomfort. Puerto Rico was Catholic. "But dogma was one thing, behavior was something else." At that time informed consent was not known. Some women began to complain of nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Pinkus and Rock did not want to hear of the side effects.
G. D. Searle was tentative about selling the product. Initially it was marketed to reduce menstrual distress, but "The cat was out of the bag." Women began taking to prevent pregnancy. On May 11, 1960, the FDA approved the pill for birth control. This was the first time women could be as sexually free as men. A million women became users in one year. Manufacturers had difficulty keeping up. Concern was expressed in the media about the impact of the pill, some predicting the decline of western civilization. This was the ultimate double standard. Condoms were readily available, but concerns expressed that women would become promiscuous. John Rock the promoter of the pill. By 1965 6,000,000 were taking the pill. It became absolutely expected that women would plan their families. Women went to work. Women became lawyers and doctors. It was revolutionary. Blacks had a right to be concerned. Whites had sterilized black women in the past. Was this a White conspiracy to reduce the population of Blacks, a Black genocide? Nevertheless Black women came to use the pill at the same rate as White women.
This was a time when male gynecologists dominated women patients. The physicians were relying on information from the drug companies and the FDA, but women were not given information about the risks. A lot of women died. In the 1960s the complaints about side effects could no longer be ignored. In 1969 Barbara Seaman published her first book, The Doctor's Case Against the Pill. Complaints and Seaman's book led to a January 1970 Senate hearing, but only men were called to testify. The dose, it turns out, was 10 times greater than it is today. Feminists in the audience were outraged that they had not been given information about the risks. Television cameras publicized the feminists' reactions. Women had captured the national spotlight. Hormone levels were slashed. Women demanded a new relationship with their physicians. The pill helped launch a new generation of activists.

For more on Barabara Seaman see http://www.womenshealthnetwork.org/nnartic.les/seaman.htm See also description of the video: Exploding the Estrogen Myth