Birth Control Contraceptive Pill

The discrimination of women in post-secondary education has had a direct influence on socioeconomic inequality between men and women. Banks (1988) argues that although the overt sexual discrimination against women in law schools is decreasing, an even more damaging form of covert sexism and gender-bias remains (Banks, 1988, p. 137). Throughout the 1970s, law schools catered specifically

Oral contraceptives have provided the world with great outcomes. Planned parenthood stated that birth control has “advanced women’s educational opportunities, led to more college-educated women pursuing advanced professional degrees, enhanced children’s well being in the long run, saved women money, reduced teen pregnancy, and reduced unwanted pregnancy” (“Birth Control” 1-3). The argument that birth control has done great things for society is obvious.

To the question “Why the Woman Rebel?” Sanger wrote “Because I believe that deep down in woman’s nature lies slumbering the spirit of revolt” and “Because I believe that through the efforts of individual revolution will woman’s freedom emerge”. Both highlight how birth control was not a mere technique to personal freedom, but an avenue to power. These quotes emphasize Sanger’s belief that the birth control pill would unleash the spirit of freedom amongst women. She did not argue for the open distribution of contraceptive to promote personal freedom. However, she believed that limitation on family size would free women from the dangers of childbearing and give them the opportunity to become active outside the home. In addition, Document 1 acknowledges birth control’s ability to bring about radical social class change. Sanger includes her belief that women are “enslaved by the world machine…middle-class morality”. Her idea of social change not only involved embracing the liberation of woman, but also the working class. It is believed that the birth control campaign succeeded as it became “a movement by and for the middle class”. Birth control provided middle-class women the opportunity to plan families without the stress of balancing growing expenses for a child that was not planned for. In The Woman Rebel Sanger introduces birth control’s larger mission of power and opportunity for women while incorporating the basis of social class.

In the 1950s, birth control pills were introduced in the United States (Windsor, 2002). Over the past seven decades, the pill has changed the American women’s lives in several ways. The pills have allowed women to delay marriages, invest in their career development, and secure well-paid jobs in areas that were previously dominated by men. The pill has also improved family relationships and prevented abuse and marriage dissolutions. This paper explores the history of birth control methods in the US and how the pill became available on a large scale to women. The paper further examines how the pills has given women the freedom to advance their careers, strengthen the marriage relationships, and participate in the workforce.

Women in today’s society have never known a time when contraceptive options were not available to them. As a general statement, acquiring some sort of contraceptives whether it is the pill, patch, condom, emergency contraception, or another of the many types of birth control is not difficult with the many options available to women today. However, backtrack to the early 1900’s and the story was completely different. In 1916, Margaret Sanger made contraceptive history by opening the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York. The fight for birth control began. It was not until years later in 1960 that the birth control pill was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and since then many other varieties of birth control have made their way into the market (Kim & Wasik, 2011). Today, thanks to those like Margaret Sanger who fought for contraceptives, women and couples who wish to avoid pregnancy have more choices than ever before. (Egarter et al, 2013; Perry, 2015).

Beginning in the late 1800s, birth control began being sold by manufacturers as a two hundred and fifty million dollar industry. The manufacturer’s targeted half the population, women. However, due to a large amount of advertisements being in magazines that only the middle class could afford, the white married middle class women were the main producer of sales. Thus leading to the intended effect of birth rates decreasing from seven children per family to two and a half children (Ulrich, ). In addition, Tone states that women of African American race and others of low economic status did not have as strong an effect. The birth rates of these individuals remained roughly the same. In addition, it was not until the late nineteenth century that women became in charge of their own reproduction. In the 1700s, the family was largely

Growing up as a young woman today in a world where sex sells, would be unimaginable without the creation and use of birth control. Birth control not only gives women rights as to whether or not they want to bear children but it also helps women with menstrual cycles. Women at one point had no contraception or information on birth control. Imagine the world today without knowledge on contraception. Imagine how middle to lower class citizens would survive. Most of the children would be lucky to be fed yet alone college educated. This is all because one woman, Margaret Sanger, devoted her life to this cause. This research paper will address who Margaret Sanger was, why birth control meant so much to her and how she devoted her life to its cause and creation.

Society today is completely different than it was in the 1800’s, when birth control started to become popular. According to the ebook Birth Control, the public health saw a dilemma, because there was the matter of scientific innovation and consumer protection. The economy was affected by oral contraceptives because it started

Throughout the course of this dissertation it has been incredibly fascinating to evaluate how the notion of birth control has evolved throughout the history of feminism; sparked by the scientific ingenuity of Margaret Sanger. Through the analysis of the wave’s metaphor it is remarkable how the distribution of contraception pamphlets in 1920 can provide a strong undercurrent able to peak in the midst of the sexual revolution in the 1960’s. Sanger reinvented the act of sex from a means of reproduction to a pleasurable burden free experience where women are able for the first time to be sexually liberated from their own bodies. It is this re-invention of a public belief on a private matter which is so applicable to the re-peaking of the contraceptive

The arrival of the pill in the spring of 1960 represented both an important step towards bodily autonomy for women, and a ‘new era in the long history of birth control’. For the very first time, there would exist a method of contraception that separated brith control from the act of sexual intercourse, and allowed women total control over their fertility. This caused many commentators to fear that the pill would ‘wreck moral havoc’ on the sexual behaviour of the nation, with some even going as far as to claim that it would lead to adultery and the destruction of the ‘nuclear family’. It was, after all, overwhelmingly mothers who rushed to fill their prescriptions when the pill hit the market at the peak of the baby boom. However, other parties claimed that the pill would cure the ‘social, sexual and political ills of the day… The pill was, bearing in mind the military metaphors that permeated the Cold War, the ‘magic bullet’ that would avert the explosion of the ‘population bomb’.’ By reducing the population, they argued, the pill would alleviate the conditions of poverty that so often seemed to lead to an embrace of communism among ‘third world’ nations. The pill would also booster the nuclear family with the promise of marital bliss, and would foster happy families along the way. ‘As one euphoric husband gushed; ‘with my wife on the pill, any moment is the right moment for love!’. In the eyes of its champions, the pill would be a powerful asset in the fight to maintain

It is true that the pill was at the start of the second wave and led to every other event following in some way. In order to determine the full effect of the pill on second wave feminism, other aspects of the second wave must be analyzed. This includes the major event of the Miss America protest, the abortion marches, and The Equal Rights Amendment. Today 100 million women use the pill and the ramifications of the second

Birth control has always been somewhat of a taboo subject. Even though it has come a long way from when it was first introduced many are still against the idea of it. Margaret Sanger devoted her life to legalize birth control and to make it universally available for all women today. I chose her for my paper because I strongly believe that birth control should be available to all women and that women should have the right to be able to control if they will produce children or not. Sangers fight for birth control started when she was 19 and didn’t end till she was 81. She devoted her life to seeing it legalized and was extremely passionate about women being able to have it available to them in order for them to have a safer and healthier life.

In the 1930, Puerto Rican women were fighting for childcare, maternal care, birth control and control over their reproductive rights (Colon & Ortega, 1998). To make matters worse, Puerto Rican women were used like lab rats. They were blamed for the poverty that existed, In 1937, the government passed Law 116, which allowed permanent sterilization, here in the United States and Puerto Rico as well. It was intended to control the rapid growth in population and unemployment. They called this, “la operacion” (Colon & Ortega, 1998). Many women were deceived in getting tubal ligation, hysterectomy, birth control pill, EMKO, IUD and Depo Shots, not knowing the procedures, side effects or that the changes could be permanent (Colon & Ortega, 1998).

Birth control. Most of the women in America have tried some type of birth control during their lifetime. Currently, we are having debates to see if birth control should be free or at a lower cost to citizens. Why do we need birth control if we already have condoms? Do we really have affordable birth control? Can we get it easily? Does it do more than just prevent pregnancies? If birth control really helping women and the economy? In this research paper, I will be going over these questions. Birth control is a benefit to modern society and we have benefited from it greatly.

Women have pushed forward in the struggle for equality. Today women are staples in the professional world. More women are attending college than men as proved in recent studies. Women have outnumbered men on college campuses since 1979, and on graduate school campuses since 1984. More American women than men have received bachelor's degrees every year since 1982. Even here on Haverford's campus, the Admissions Office received more applications from women for early decision candidacy than men for the eighth straight year. The wage gap is slowly decreasing and the fight for proper day care services along with insurance coverage for birth control pills are passionate issues for women across America.