,The Father of the Pill?
The Birth of Oral Contraceptives.
By Colleen Christopherson
The Pill’s importance has often been ranked with the discovery of fire, the development of tools, hunting, agriculture, urbanism, and nuclear energy. The Pill was born at the best possible time, October 15th 1951 but matured through the worst times. Its synthesis came at a time where the medical profession, media and public were accepting of a new chemically focused medical revolution. It’s growth in popularity and acceptance was obvious by the 1960’s as there were 13 major pharmaceutical companies actively researching and developing more oral contraceptives. However, with the increase in popularity came criticism from religious activists, concerns regarding how safe this Pill could be and concerns around a woman’s ability to choose to bare children.
Numerous scientists and pharmaceutical companies played important roles in understanding the human reproductive system (early 1900’s), establishing the potential for control of the reproductive system (1945-1950’s), discovering these “control chemicals” (1950’s), synthesizing these chemicals (1950-1960’s), producing and marketing “the Pill” to the general population (1950 to present), and continuing research and development to increase the Pill’s effectiveness and promoting it’s safety. It is difficult to say who “the father of the Pill” really is. There are a few key players in the early years of oral contraceptives. However, the main idea around producing a “pill” that could control the female reproductive system was born in the minds of two women, Margaret Sanger and Katharine McCormick, many years prior to any of the chemists actually determining that it could be done. Throughout life (1879-1966), Sanger played a key role in motivating woman to take control of the reproductive capabilities and despite social and government pressures she, along with the support of McCormick funded most of the initial research into the potential powers of an oral contraceptives. Some literature supports the idea that there really isn’t a “father of the Pill” but rather two “mothers of the Pill”
Regardless of who was the father or mother of the pill, it is impossible to overlook the fact that over the past 40 years, the Pill has been swallowed as a daily routine by more humans than any other prescribed medication in the world. The total number of consumers have counted in the millions, and they have consumed this Pill by the hundreds of billions. Most consumers take it neither to cure an illness nor to guard against one, these consumers are not sick. The Pill has been called “the first medicine ever destined for a purely social, rather than therapeutic, purpose.” Its discovery has been linked to; the cause of the sexual revolution in the 1960’s, the rise of feminism and female independence, and to increased awareness to the need for control of a growing populations.
Questions:
Why or Why not.
should we take into consideration all people involved in the discovery?
the Pill is one of these discoveries? Why or why not.
Resources:
Asbell, B. (1995). The Pill: A biography of the drug that changed the world. Random House, Inc. New York, NY. 411 pages.
Djerassi, C. (1981). The Politics of Contraception: Birth Control in the Year 2001. WH Freeman and Company, San Francisco, CA. 282 pages.
Djerassi, C (1992). The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas’ Horse: The Autobiography of Carl Djerassi. Harper Collins Publisher. 319 pages.
Watkins, E. S. (1998). On the Pill: A social history of oral contraceptives (1950-1970). The John Hopkin University Press, London. 183 pages.
http://www.thehistorychannel.com
http://www.womanshistory.about.com
Curriculum Fit:
Knowledge: describe the anatomy of the human reproductive system and explain
the hormonal control and maintenance of reproductive systems in adults
STS: the ways in which science advances technology and technology advances
Society
Attitudes: this topic may cover all of the aspects of “attitudes” in bio 30 unit 2