1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:08,559 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: show for those who can never know enough about history. 4 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: I'm Gabeluesier, and today we're looking at the time when 5 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: a new contraceptive option was made available to American women, 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: one that, while not perfect, was far more reliable and 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: far less intrusive than anything else on the market. The 8 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: day was May ninth, nineteen sixty The US Food and 9 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: Drug Administration approved the first commercially produced birth control pill. 10 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: It was called enovid, and just one month after its approval, 11 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: the gd Searle Company of Chicago began selling it in 12 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: ten milligram doses. The main active in gredient was a 13 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: synthetic form of progesterone, a steroid hormone that occurs naturally 14 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: in the menstrual cycle of humans and other species. Unfortunately, 15 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: the approved dose of enovid was later determined to be 16 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: ten times too high, and as a result, some early 17 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: adopters experienced severe side effects, including life threatening blood clots. 18 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: Further refinements eventually led to lower dose versions of the pill, 19 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: which were far safer and more effective at preventing pregnancy, 20 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: development of The pill began at the behest of Margaret Sanger, 21 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: an American activist, writer, and nurse who had long campaigned 22 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,119 Speaker 1: for a better method of birth control for American women. 23 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty, Sanger, then in her early seventies, met 24 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: with a biochemist named Gregory Pinkus at a Manhattan apartment. 25 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,279 Speaker 1: She urged him to begin research into a reliable, safe, 26 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: and inexpensive alternative to traditional contraceptives like condoms and diaphragms. 27 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: Her vision was for a new women controlled form of 28 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: birth control, a pill as easy to take as an aspirin. 29 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: What Sanger asked of Pinkus that evening was a tall order, 30 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: not just in terms of the science, but also due 31 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: to the legal risk. At the time, more than half 32 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: the state still had criminal restrictions against selling or distributing contraceptives, 33 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: so developing an all new one in your private lab 34 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,119 Speaker 1: likely would have been frowned upon as well. Nonetheless, Pincus 35 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: agreed to give it a shot and quickly developed a 36 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: research theory centered on the use of progesterone that natural 37 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: hormone plays an important role in maintaining the early stages 38 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: of pregnancy. But Pincus wondered what might happen if it 39 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: were introduced to the body prior to pregnancy. His belief 40 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: was that a woman's reproductive system would more or less 41 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,239 Speaker 1: be fooled into thinking that she was pregnant already, and 42 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: would then respond by suppressing any further conception. Pinkus tested 43 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: his theory on rats and rabbits, but the success rate 44 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: of chemically produced progesterone wasn't quite as high as he 45 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: had expected. His search for a more potent form of 46 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: the hormone eventually led him to a synthetic variant derived 47 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: from a wild Mexican yam called Barbasco. Pinkus struck a 48 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: deal with a pharmaceutical company in Chicago, Searle that produced 49 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: the synthetic hormone, and in nineteen fifty four he and 50 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: colleague John Rock began running clinical tests of a pill 51 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: that used synthetic progesterone and estrogen to repress ovulation in women. 52 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: Much of the funding for this research was donated by 53 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: Catherine McCormick, a philanthropist and friend of Margaret Sanger, who 54 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: followed every stage of the project from conception to market, 55 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: though she rarely gets the credit she deserves. In nineteen 56 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: fifty seven, the FDA approved the use of n of 57 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: It not for birth control, but for menstrual disorders. Tens 58 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: of thousands of women went on to use the drug 59 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: over the next few years, and in nineteen fifty nine, 60 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: Searle submitted an application for its approval as a contraceptive. 61 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: The company and the pill researchers expected the application to 62 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: sail through the FDA's review process, after all, the drug 63 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 1: had already been deemed safe for public use. However, that's 64 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: not how things shook out. Instead, the FDA sat on 65 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: the application for months, going back and forth on whether 66 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: or not to approve it. The delay wasn't so much 67 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: due to concerns over en of it It's safety or effectiveness. 68 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: It was more that the agency had never seen a 69 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: medicine quite like it. The pill was the first drug 70 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 1: that wasn't designed to treat or cure a medical ailment. Instead, 71 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: it would be prescribed to healthy women on a long 72 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: term basis for a purely social purpose. The FDA was 73 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: uneasy with that concept, so too were many Americans who 74 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: objected to birth control on religious grounds. It took a 75 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,359 Speaker 1: bit of prodding from the researchers behind the pill but eventually, 76 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: on May ninth, nineteen sixty, the FDA approved the contraceptive 77 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: usage of enovid. By the end of nineteen sixty one, 78 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,679 Speaker 1: more than four hundred thousand American women were taking the pill. 79 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: By the end of nineteen sixty three, the number had 80 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: grown to two point three million, and by nineteen sixty 81 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: five it had more than doubled again, with more than 82 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: five million American women on the pill, accounting for about 83 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: forty percent of all young married women in the country. 84 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: Similar oral contraceptives were soon approved for use in other 85 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: countries as well. Journalists and playwright Claire booth Loose celebrated 86 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: the pill's rising global influence, writing quote, modern woman is 87 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: at last free as a man, is free to dispose 88 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: of her own body, to earn her list, to pursue 89 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: the improvement of her mind, to try a successful career. 90 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 1: Those words were especially true after nineteen seventy two, when 91 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: the U. S. Supreme Court finally made the pill legally 92 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: available to everyone. Prior to that, only married couples looking 93 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: to plan their families were given the right to use 94 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: the pill, and many states had laws against distributing contraception 95 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: of any kind to single people. Those restrictions finally ended 96 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen seventies, when the court ruled that 97 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: treating married and unmarried people differently violated the equal protection 98 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:39,599 Speaker 1: clause of the Fifth Amendment. As you might imagine, Seerle 99 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: made a fortune off of Enovid, though the company's monopoly 100 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: on the oral contraceptive market was fairly short lived. Other 101 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: early branded pills stole some of its thunder, as did 102 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: growing concerns over the medication's connection to health problems such 103 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: as thrombosis. Still, Enovid continued to be prescribed in lower 104 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 1: t doses until nineteen eighty eight, when its production was 105 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: discontinued for good. Today, the pill is the most common 106 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: contraceptive used by women in the US, the UK, and 107 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: many other countries, and four out of five sexually experienced 108 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: women are thought to take it at one time or another. 109 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: That's a situation that's unlikely to change anytime soon. But 110 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: it's worth noting that hormonal contraceptives for men have been 111 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: in development since the nineteen seventies, and one recently passed 112 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: initial human safety tests That means a male version of 113 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: the pill could be ready in less than a decade. 114 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: Some believe it will be a shakeup that could usher 115 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: in a golden age of reproductive freedom for everyone. But 116 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: if the history of women's birth control is anything to 117 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: go on, we'll probably just argue about it endlessly instead. 118 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:58,119 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little 119 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd 120 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: like to keep up with the show, you can follow 121 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, 122 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, you can 123 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: always send them my way by writing to This Day 124 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben 125 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: Hackett for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 126 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 127 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:36,959 Speaker 1: in History class.