During the late 19th century and the early 1900s, the times were impregnated with science and revolutionary ideas, so to speak. All over the world different forms of contraception were being developed and used. The common vulcanization of rubber made condoms very widely used in 1844. The diaphragm was invented by a German physician in 1838. In 1860, the cervical cap was invented.

In the U.S. traditional religious beliefs dictated that sexual intercourse was only to create babies. Not to mention social stigmas that predicted the female's job was to stay home, clean, and be mother and wife. Allowing contraception to be used meant that sexual intercourse was for other means like ... pleasure. There was also a rampant fear of an enormous decrease in population as another implication. These ideas dominated the political arena and also influenced the creation of laws that blocked attempts to make contraceptives legal. An example is the Comstock Law which makes the mailing of obscene items, such as info on birth control and birth control devices, illegal.

Some people began to advocate for birth control. One of them was an American nurse named Margaret Sanger. She started by releasing info through publications in 1912. Two years later she was indicted on charges of obscenity and left the U.S. A year later she returns and the charges are dropped. On October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S. in Brooklyn, New York. She was arrested nine days later and jailed for dispensing birth control. In 1921 a busy Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League.

Through her efforts and those of others research was encouraged to create effective and safe birth control choices. During the 1930s and '40s Margaret continued to stay an active crusader for birth control availability. In 1936 doctors obtained the right to prescribe and import contraceptives. A year later the American Medical Association added its endorsement to the contraceptive argument. In 1938 "Ladies Home Journal" stated that 79% of American women believed in contraceptives. In the 1950s Katherine Dexter McCormick was convinced by Margaret Sanger to give $3 million to hormonal contraceptive research. The research yielded the first oral birth control pills that were granted for American use in the 1960s. But it wasn't until 1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird that nationwide access to birth control was legalized regardless of a woman's marital state. Just recently emergency contraception became available with certain restrictions varying in different states.

Sources

"Women's Health Care: a newsletter for practitioners interested in women's health issues." Vol. 6 #1 Summary of presentation by Jennifer C. Jennings. January 2000.