Did you know that birth control pills were not legally available to unmarried women in all U.S. states until 1972? The Pill was only approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960 and was not prescribed even to married women in every state until 1965.
Think about what a difference The Pill made in people’s lives. You could have sex without worrying about getting pregnant. You didn’t have to deal with condoms or the various other iffy devices available then. All you had to do was take a pill. You didn’t ever have to get pregnant if you didn’t want to. Suddenly women had a real choice about whether or not to have children or when to have them. It gave them a freedom they had never had before. Since then, the number of women who don’t have children has more than doubled, not a coincidence.
As those of us who are childless by marriage know all too well, The Pill also made it more likely that we would not have children with partners who didn’t want them.
In 1972, the man who became my first husband hurried me to the San Jose State student health center for a prescription. He wanted sex but not babies. In those days, the hormone dosages were huge. I suffered every possible side effect–bleeding, bumps, nausea, weight gain, and more–before trading my pills for a diaphragm. When I married Fred, I didn’t need birth control because he had had a vasectomy. I remained childless.
Today’s birth control pills have fewer side effects and in fact are often prescribed to help with bad periods and other problems in the reproductive department. Of course, we worry a lot more about sexually transmitted diseases and need to take precautions. But pregnancy? The Pill took care of that.
You can read a detailed history of The Pill here.
How about you? What is your experience with birth control?
Childless by Marriage 
Since my “childless by a committed relationship that ended when I was 38” experience, I feel really ambivalent towards the pill.I call myself a feminist and I know for certain that before the pill, men would get women pregnant and then leave them to manage all the problems, maybe have their baby taken away from them, and, adding injury to insult, taking the blame. So okay, the pill is great.But on the other hand, what happened with the pill is: Men are still not taking responsibility for the babymaking. Whether it's avoiding a pregnancy or actually getting pregnant, it's all up to us and some of us get betrayed. Sometimes being left alone pregnant, nowadays more often left alone wishing for a baby we'll never have.
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The pill definitely has its good and its bad sides. Thanks for sharing this.
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I had been using pills and rubbers since I married my husband. Then after 3 years, we acknowledged he is infertile – so it may seem that we used it for nothing. But as I have skin, ovary and period problems, I was advised by a doctor to use them anyway. So I kept on taking the pills even though I knew I wouldn’t conceive. But a couple of months ago, the doctor announced I have a fibroid – and the reason is the pills. He advised me to stop taking them and I had to choose between skin and period problems and a growing fibroid. So, I agree with Sue – pill do have both sides…And as for women who think they control childbirth by means of pills, iIn my opinion, the one who is really controlling is God. It’s not in your hands to change His plan for yours. I know girls who missed only one pill and conceived immediately and other girls who have been trying all means to conceive and failed. Don’t think that it’s you who decides whether to have babies or not.
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