Motherhood and the Pill

May 10, 2010 Editorial

Through some quirk of fate, yesterday happened to be both Mothers Day and the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill – the first medication that could be prescribed for perfectly healthy humans. The argument was that it would improve the lives of women if they had the option of spacing out their pregnancies.

Even though it was brought to the market by the pharmaceutical giant Searle, the pill was the result of the unstinting labours of two women – Margaret Sanger who first envisioned a “magic pill” to control contraception in 1912 and Katharine McCormick, a wealthy suffragist and early feminist who funded the research that led to the US’s FDA final approval of the first oral contraceptive, Enovid, on May 9th 1960.

Margaret Sanger had seen her mother die at an early age – partly due to the stress of bearing eleven children. After her mother’s death, she worked as a nurse in New York City and saw many women die from childbirth and self-induced abortion. The horrors that she witnessed there caused her to devote much of her time to promoting birth control for women. She set up the first clinic in 1916 and founded the American Birth Control League in 1921 – this led to the worldwide concept of “planned parenthood”. Margaret Sanger died in 1966 and Katherine McCormick in 1967, so both lived to see their dream fulfilled.

Margaret Sanger, who coined the term, said that “birth control is the first important step [a woman] must take towards the goal of…[becoming] a man’s equal”. It would allow women to control the size of their family, and therefore take control over their lives as well. Fewer children meant less work, more money, and more time for women. For the first time, preventing pregnancy was in a woman’s hands. She could take the pill at her discretion, without anyone knowing and without depending on a man.

It’s not as though birth control didn’t exist before the pill. Condoms and diaphragms had been widely available since the 1840s. But no method was as simple and effective as the pill, which separated contraception from sex altogether. Women no longer had to conform to the stereotypical name of mother and wife: marriage and childbearing were disjunctured. This was great news for woman, but it was threatening to most men. It certainly changed relations in the bedroom: in psychology journals, prior to 1970, frigidity was listed as a major problem for women, but today, frigidity has practically vanished from the literature. It has been replaced by erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation, which were never considered problems before.

When sexual intercourse became shared and pregnancy became an option, the attitude however, shifted from child bearing to child rearing. The sexual revolution and feminism that unfolded in the sixties was in no small measure linked to the availability of the pill. The pill inaugurated our modern era of lifestyle drugs.

While initially, it could only be prescribed for married women, the pill quickly became the birth control option of young, unmarried women. Not that mothers were comfortable with their daughters using the pill.

However, a sense of independence and individualism had entered the realm of feminism thanks to the option women now had to gain control of their own bodies. Women now had the ability to pursue careers without having to go straight into motherhood.

A woman could also be sexually active and not worry about losing her job because of unplanned pregnancy. This also helped promote women in the workforce as the concept of birth control guaranteed a woman’s dedication to her job.

Most of the older health concerns about the pill have been addressed through the simple expedient of lowering the concentration of the hormone base.

However, the early expectation that married couples could have happier sex with more freedom and less fear, the divorce rate plummet and there would be no more unwanted pregnancies, or illegal abortions proved to be too optimistic. Similarly, hopes that the pill would solve the global problem of an unsustainable burgeoning population explosion and its attendant poverty were dashed.

But unquestionably the pill has changed the lives of mothers and mothers-to-be.

Latest News

Motherhood and the Pill

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 18th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Dolphin Secondary, East Ruimveldt seal Round-5 victories in Republic...

Golden Jaguars to host Barbados tonight in...

Members show confidence as they re-elect Ninvalle...

Badminton Team enjoy decent success in Suriname

Successful 8th Charity Event hosted by Inniss...

Nine years old is latest recipient of gear from...

Features/Columnists

A shameful abdication of leadership

Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all

Guyanese are so lucky: bad cop, bad cop

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Motherhood and the Pill

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 18th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]