Humans have sex. A potential consequence of sex is pregnancy. When pregnancy is unwanted, people come up with creative ways to prevent it. Crocodile dung. Half a lemon as a cervical cap.
The birth control pill is one of those pregnancy-prevention systems. Under typical use, the failure rate for the pill is 6%, versus an 18% failure rate for condoms. The sponge and diaphragm have failure rates similar to condoms. When the pill is used optimally, the failure rate is even lower.
What I found most interesting about this episode was learning about the profound social and economic effects the pill had on society, especially for women. First, for married women; and then, for young, unmarried women.
The pill was first approved in 1960, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that its availability expanded. I came of age about the same time birth control became “the most popular form of contraception for 18 and 19-year-old women in the United States.” And this is when the economic impact started to be felt.
Continue reading “The Contraceptive Pill [50 Things That Made the Modern Economy]”
