Happy 50th, Birth Control!
Wow: it's been 50 years since the birth control pill was first approved by the FDA. What's changed since then?
By the 1970s the true impact of the Pill could begin to be measured, and it was not on the sexual behavior of American women; it was on how they envisioned their lives, their choices and their obligations. In 1970 the median age at which college graduates married was about 23; by 1975, as use of the Pill among single women became more common, that age had jumped 2.5 years. The fashion for large families went the way of the girdle. In 1963, 80% of non-Catholic college women said they wanted three or more children; that plunged to 29% by 1973. More women were able to imagine a life that included both a family and a job, which changed their childbearing calculations. As an Indiana teacher, 23, told TIME in 1967, "When I got married I was still in college, and I wanted to be certain that I finished. Now we want to buy a home, and it's going to be possible a lot sooner if I teach. With the Pill I know I can keep earning money and not worry about an accident that would ruin everything."
How do you think your life has been changed by access to birth control? Check out the whole article in Time to find out more about the history and the impact the Pill has had on women's lives in the last half-century. If you want to get geeky about it, you can read our fact page to learn more.
If you wanna watch more, here's a video of the author, Nancy Gibbs, discussing her book and the story behind the 50th Anniversary of "The Pill":
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It's sad that so many in our society consider a child "an accident that would ruin everything" about the plans we have about our lives. It's a CHILD, not a choice. I pray those readers that are allowed to see this comment will come to realize this truth someday. Be sure to thank your mother that the "accident" that became you was allowed to grow and benefit others in our world.
Be sure to thank your mother that the "accident" that became you...
Um... I was no accident. While my parents were married in their early 20s, I wasn't born until 8 years after they got married. My mother stayed on The Pill so that she and my dad could finish college and grad school and become financially stable before they had me.
I had a teriffic childhood, raised by two parents who loved me, who had the time and energy to raise me they best they could from the start, and who were able to open up all the opportunities they could for me. Who knows how things would have worked out if my mom had become pregnant earlier? I feel very fortunate that everything worked out the way it did, and very grateful that The Pill became available when it did.
I was saddened by the same comment as Patrick, "With the Pill I know I can keep earning money and not worry about an accident that would ruin everything." I was also saddened by "The fashion for large families went the way of the girdle."
These comments brought me back to the way I used to think when I lived a fear-based and faithless existence. It was a time when I thought children and large families were like cooties and should be avoided like running around mines in a mine field.
These comments also reflect the reality that many ProChoicers are not truly ProChoice. If one is truly ProChoice, then they would support me and my choice to have a large family [if I was blessed with one] and would not make cutting remarks about my choice. My choice would be celebrated along with theirs.