First Oral Contraceptive Pill

The pill for birth control, a single pill for drugs and sex.

On May 9, 1960, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) approved the birth control pill for use. Two days later, Enovid, the first oral contraceptive went on sale.

No one can fully say that the approval of this birth control pill could have prompted the sexual revolution.

Initially, G.D. Searle and Company, the Pharmaceutical creator, was not convinced that healthy women would tale a drug on a daily basis solely to prevent pregnancy. They originally applied for U.S. Government approval of the drug as a treatment for gynaecological complaints.  However, it was reported that after only a year, one million women were on the pill just in the U.S. alone. By 1965 more than five million women were taking the drug despite the high doses of estrogen and progesterone that causes side effects.

Feminist writers and historians have often referred to the contraceptive pill as the single most important technological achievement in the 20th century redefining the social and economic roles of women in the society's structure.




Resource:

Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House (2006)

Image Credit:

en.wikimedia.org /public domain