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Apr 22, 2010 · The ancient Egyptians mixed a paste out of crocodile dung and formed it into a pessary, or vaginal insert. Aristotle proposed cedar oil and frankincense oil as spermicides; Casanova wrote of using...
- Nancy Gibbs
Dec 4, 2011 · It's 50 years since the oral contractive pill was made available on the NHS. But what impact has it had on women and society in Britain?
- The Advent of Modern Birth Control
- Contraceptives on The NHS
- ‘Sex on The State’ – Further Legislation
- ‘It Was A Real Revolution’
The pill had originally been developed in America, where it was licensed as Enovid from 1960 (availability was determined at a state level). The same pill had been undergoing trials with several hundred married women volunteers in Birmingham and Slough. By October 1961, the British Family Planning Association had added the pill to its Approved List...
After much behind the scenes discussion, on 4 December 1961 Enoch Powell, Minister for Health at this time, announced that the pill would indeed be available on the NHS. The pill was to be given to women whose health was put at risk by pregnancy and this was at the doctor’s discretion. Labour MP Marcus Lipton asked Powell a pertinent question: Mr L...
The initial House of Commons announcement was only the beginning. 1967 brought the NHS Family Planning Act, which enabled family health clinics to give contraceptive advice to unmarried women, giving many more women access to the pill. Despite this, there was significant stigma for unmarried women accessing it. Anecdotal stories talk of unmarried w...
The pill has since been widely accepted in society. While other contraceptive methods have been developed, it remains the most popular contraceptive in England, with approximately 3.1 million women taking it 10. It is hard to quantify the huge impact such a small pill has had on women’s lives, ultimately giving women greater certainty and choice. A...
May 21, 2017 · But at the beginning of the 1970s - equipped with the pill - women surged into all these courses. At first, women made up a fifth of the class, then a quarter. By 1980 they often made up a...
Oct 2, 2015 · In the '50s, four people collaborated to create a pill that would allow women to enjoy sex. Jonathan Eig details the history in The Birth of the Pill. Originally broadcast Oct. 7, 2014.
Apr 12, 2017 · Some of the most popular birth control methods and devices in the 1910s included spermicides, douches, an early diaphragm called the Dutch pessary, and ergot pills, which induced abortions.
People also ask
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These stories highlight how attitudes to the pill were slow to change – but change they did. As the 70s came to an end, a feeling of sexual liberation was marking the start of the 1980s.
