The History of Birth Control and Society People have been desperate to control how many children they have and abstinence is not really an option adults want to choose. Some ancient forms of birth control include: animal skins and intestines for condoms, lemons as barriers to protect from pregnancy, poisonous cocktails to cause abortion, and animal dung cocktails as spermicides. When those measures failed, women turned to abortions. (Rengal intro ix) Humankind has been trying to have sex without pregnancy since ancient times. Birth control methods have been around for centuries, the types and safety have varied over the years. The women's right revolution was a vital part in developing safe methods. Even though some people still think birth control is wrong, there are many benefits to controlling our population. Each individual family needs to make their own choices based on research and education; birth control can be seen as a very positive way to avoid abortion. Education is the key to keeping abortions and emotional trauma caused by unwanted pregnancies to a minimum. I have gained a sincere appreciation for all that modern women take for granted, including the women’s movement, all the trial and error of our ancient ancestors and all the dangerous ways women of our past have tried to prevent pregnancy. I am thankful that it is easy to decide when and how many children; a woman will have today. Ancient Methods Historical records are not always easy to find, since this is a personal topic and no physical proof would be left behind. “Our oldest records indicate that the practice of inducing abortions was used throughout the ancient world.”(Salisbury 1) ”Ancient Egyptian papyrus dating from 1550 B.C. recommend inser... ... middle of paper ... ...void pregnancy but other options range from 75%-99.9%. If a couple were to combine, barrier options with hormonal options that would be as close to 100% protections as possible without giving up intercourse. Works Cited Gunstream, Stanley E. Anatomy & Physiology: with integrated study guide. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2010. 370-373. Print. Rengel, Marian. Encyclopedia of Birth Control. Phoenix, AZ: Orxy Press, 2000. Print. Salisbury, Joyce. Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World. Santa Barbara, Ca: ABC CLIO, 2001. Print. Schrager, Sarina M.D., Sarah Hoffmann BS. “Women’s Knowledge of Commonly Used Contraceptive Methods”. Wisconsin Medical Journal. 107.7(2008): 327. Print. Tone, Andrea. “Making Room for Rubbers: Gender, Technology, and Birth Control before the Pill.” History & Technology. 18.1(2002): 51. History Reference Center. Web. 8 Nov 2009.
When legally introduced to society in 1960, the Pill stirred up a long period of controversy. The availability of the Pill had great impact on women’s health, social life, laws, religion, family, relationships, morality and sexuality. Initially conceived to be highly effective and safe, the Pill left many women with side effects – few which led to several fatalities. Before the Pill was created, many women postponed sex due to the social norm and fear of becoming pregnant before marriage. Families grew large and it was typical for a woman to have multiple children caused by the lack of birth control. Due to regulations, such as the Comstock laws, many people supported the prohibition of the Pill and other family planning practices. However, many women believed in the right to control their own body when it came to procreation. Despite the controversies, the Pill left lasting impacts, such as by opening society to the sexual revolution and...
The Progressive Era was a period of social and political reform beginning in the post Gilded Age 19th century and lasting through WWI. Industrial and urban growth of early 19th century America while representative of opportunity and future advancement simultaneously posed many difficulties for working class citizens. Prior concerns over the conditions of working class citizens were multiplied and magnified by overpopulated and impoverished urban communities. During this era many new Progressive agendas were introduced with the goal of reforming dated and unregulated policies, the most prominent of these, the birth control movement. The documents from chapter six of Constructing the American Past show that at its core, the birth control debate was a multifaceted social dispute with, religious political and racial influences.
During the whole of the 21st century, the subject of birth control has become a trending topic throughout various news reports. The debate on whether or not birth control should be required and distributed by all health plans has caused much controversy throughout the population. However, there was a time in our history when contraceptives, much less birth control, was available for the public. It was through the perseverance and determination of Margaret Sanger to make birth control legal for all women that it is accessible worldwide today. She was the leader of the birth control movement, which was conceived during the Progressive era of United States history.
For centuries women have tried many means to prevent pregnancy. As far back as the
In this mind baffling speech by Margaret Sanger, she explains the importance of attaining birth control as a female. She believes that “birth control should be available to every adult man and woman” (The Morality of Birth Control). In her opinion, every person over 18 should at least obtain knowledge of it, and try to practice it as much as possible. “Not only will birth control reduce the rate of disease and famine, it will also help heighten the standards of civilization towards teen pregnancy and child abortion” (Population Growth and Resource Depletion). Only then will people attain real morality.
One woman from the 1900’s indirectly assisted over 4.5 million people each year (“By the Numbers”). This influential woman was born in 1883 to immigrant parents, Anna Purcell and Michael Higgins, in Corning, New York (Coigney 16). Many believed that she would not amount to much because her father supported eleven children off of extremely low wages (Coigney 16). Despite the odds, Sanger pioneered birth control movement because she wanted to prevent history from repeating itself, believed that women should have control over their own bodies, and thought that all children should be showered with attention and love. Margaret Sanger’s success in the birth control movement has helped millions of people by providing them
The next natural way of avoiding the use of contraceptives is called the Basal body temperature method.
There are many different types of abortion. Abortions date back to 500 B.C. One of the first recorded
“When a motherhood becomes the fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident, its children will become the foundation of a new race." (Margaret Sanger, 1) Margaret Sanger, known as the founder of birth control, declared this powerful statement. It is reality that the rights that are customary for women in the twentieth century have been the product of the arduous physical and mental work of many courageous women. These individuals fought for the right for women to be respected in both mind and body by bestowing on them the rights to protect their femininity and to gain the equivalent respect given to men. A remarkable woman named Margaret Sanger is the individual who incredibly contributed to the feministic revolution that took place in the 1920’s. Her legacy of making the right to use birth control legal for woman is a precedent in history for the foundation of the equal rights battle that is still being fought today. By giving control back to the women in their sexuality, Margaret Sanger also restored confidence in those women who felt that their lives revolved around pregnancy. She has become an influential icon to women all around the world who enjoy the security of birth control that gives them the freedom in their sexuality on a daily bases.
The birth control movement took place during the early to mid 1900s. The movement was a social reform to gain women the reproductive rights they were denied of. The use of contraception or discussing contraception, as well as practicing abortion, was frowned upon and could result in an expensive fine or arrest. During the nineteenth century, women gave birth to more babies than their families could care for. Women were taught to please their husbands, regardless of if their families could afford them or not. Women were told right from wrong by men, who were always superior to them. Women did not have rights to their bodies, the use of contraception, or abortion, for what was said to benefit the country. Society mainly followed the idea of puritanism,
Since the sixteenth century, one of the most important roles of mothers, or women in general, was to have children. Although most women accepted this role and believed it was their duty to have children, not every woman was pleased with this seemingly confining role. Within the confines of this role there were also many misconceptions. At the time, most people believed that although male involvement was necessary for the conception of children, women controlled many aspects of the child, including the sex of the child. While it was a common belief that women controlled certain aspects of pregnancy, women really had no control over when and if they got pregnant. Prior to the eighteenth century there was really no indication of widespread use of birth control methods. Without reliable birth control, women would often become a mother within their first year of marriage and continue to have children every couple of years until menopause. Although women during this time period experienced high birth rates, they often did not end up raising nearly as many children as they gave birth to, since the infant mortality rate and death rate were very high. With such a high death rate, birth control was not as necessary as it would be in a more modern...
planned and have to be prepared. 49% of the pregnancies in America are from women getting
The only guaranteed option of birth control is abstinence. Abstaining from having sexual intercourse will ensure that pregnancy does not occur and also prevents sexually transmitted infections. People may find it difficult to abstain for long periods of time and tend to end their abstinence without being prepared to protect themselves against pregnancy or venereal diseases. Many choose outer course which is sex play without vaginal intercourse. For others, it is sex play with no penetration at all. It is a 100% effective against pregnancy unless pre-ejaculate or sperm gets onto the vulva or into the vagina. Outer course however, frequently leads to intercourse, therefore another form of birth control and protection from infection has to be used.
We have all heard sad stories of unwanted teenage pregnancies. There are the girls who drop out of school to care for babies they did not really want, having to work to support their unexpected new "families." There are the guys who marry before they are ready and perhaps to wives they would not otherwise have married-so often these marriages end in divorce. Most tragic of all, though, are the children who grow up knowing that they were not wanted in the first place, knowing that they were more a burden to their parents than a joy even before they were born. Clearly, we as a society need to get a grip on this problem of teenage pregnancy, and the obvious solution is to encourage teens to be responsible and practice birth control. But we face so many choices in deciding which type of birth control to use. Condoms? IUDs? Diaphragms? DepoProvera injections? "The Pill"? Abortion? Abstinence? Which method of birth control is the most practical and the most likely to provide a legitimate solution to the problem of teenage pregnancy?
Abortions can be traced back to ancient times; some were done by using sharp objects as tools, applying pressure on the lower abdomen, the use of herbs as medicine, and, beatings focusing