Margaret Sanger's Theory Of Birth Control

In 1914, Margaret Sanger, a feminist and birth control activist coined the term “birth control” (American Experience, 2001; Nikolchev, 2010). By 1916, she opened the nation’s first birth control clinic and by 1921, she created the American Birth Control League, the precursor to Planned Parenthood (American Experience, 2001; Nikolchev, 2010). In the hope to create a pill contraceptive, she turned to endocrinologist, Gregory Pincus, pictured in image 1, in 1951 (American Experience, 2001; Halberstam, 1986; Nikolchev, 2010). In 1952, Pincus, using an extremely powerful progesterone steroid called norethynodrel, began his studies by testing the effects of progesterone, the hormone that stimulates the uterus to prepare for pregnancy, in rats; it …show more content…
Rock, being Catholic, was initially against the use of contraceptives and instead was working on curing infertility; but in 1953, after some persuasion from Pincus, Sanger, and Planned Parenthood, Rock joined Pincus with his study on the use of progesterone for birth control (Halberstam, 1986; Nikolchev, 2010). Sanger became nervous that Rock would let his Catholic ideals balk the innovation of the pill and once stated, “He would not dare advance the cause of contraceptive research and remain a Catholic” (Halberstam, 1986, p. …show more content…
Since Rock was looking to cure infertility, he was amazed that the steroids allowed 14% of these women to become pregnant after the trial finished; Pincus was amazed that the trial showed a 100% postponement of ovulation (American Experience, 2001; Halberstam, 1986; Nikolchev, 2010). In 1956, after the success of the Boston trials, the men wanted to gain the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s approval; they knew that they needed to test the contraceptive on a different society that was less disciplined than their previous study, so they turned to Puerto Rico (American Experience, 2001; Halberstam, 1986; Nikolchev, 2010). Puerto Rico was a perfect candidate for the trials because it was highly populated, there were no anti-birth control laws, officials supported birth control to help with population control and the island’s poverty, and there were many birth control clinics already on the island (American Experience, 2001). Pincus wanted to prove that if poor, uneducated women were diligent enough to take the pill, then anyone could (American Experience, 2001). The project initially used extremely high doses of Enovid, a brand name synthetic oral progesterone, although some serious side effects were reported; some of the side effects were dismissed, but later, the

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