Pill At 50 Summary

In America and The Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation, Elaine May Tyler examined the history of birth control in the United States. May traced the pill's conception and evolution the United States through to the twenty-first century. The book consisted of an introduction, seven chapters, and a conclusion. May approached the topic in the context of influence of suffragist and reformer Margaret Sanger's advocacy originating in the late Progressive Era and Cold War American ideology, through to the emerging movements of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, including acknowledging political, religious, racial, socio-economic, and gender bias factors.

The world is constantly changing. In the last 50 years it has changed in a whirlwind. With technological advancements that were made available to the working class family society became more connected than they’d ever been before. In the early 1900’s telephones and telegraphs became popular and in the decade’s following came landlines and cellphones. Where there had previously been newspapers and radios available for the flow of news, computers and televisions replaced them.

“With funding from International Harvester heiress Katharine McCormick, Sanger recruited researcher Gregory Pincus to develop an oral contraceptive or "magic pill." The result, Enovid, was approved for usage by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960.” (Katz, 2010) All of her efforts helped to continue with the study and research regarding birth

Elaine Tyler May delivers a concise historical retrospective and critical analysis of the development, evolution, and impact of the birth control pill from the 1950s to present day. In her book, America and the Pill, examines the relationship of the pill to the feminist movement, scientific advances, cultural implications, domestic and international politics, and the sexual revolution. May argues cogently that the mythical assumptions and expectations of the birth control pill were too high, in which the pill would be a solution to global poverty, serve as a magical elixir for marriages to the extent it would decline the divorce rate, end out-of-wedlock pregnancies, control population growth, or the pill would generate sexual pandemonium and ruin families. May claims the real impact of the pill—it’s as a tool of empowerment for women, in which it allows them to control their own fertility and lives. May effectively transitioned between subjects, the chapters of America and the Pill are organized thematically, in

She introduces the use of contraceptives, “it’s a piece of equipment with a practical purpose, like a...” (Kingsolver, 150) In the beginning, Codi was always avoiding situations that would bring back the memories of her miscarriage. Nonetheless, Codi’s willingness to introduce the unit of birth control into the school’s curriculum portrays her finally not letting the death of her child set her back. Finally the question is answered through Codi’s ability to conceive another child.

The center for information distribution affected women’s lives for the better. Just the possibility to become educated on the subject of birth control could protect people from undesired situations, but to personally distribute the necessary contraceptives to women is a huge leap toward reform and changing public standards. Next, Margaret Sanger “Opened the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau in New York City,” (Commire, ed., 1994). This research was aimed at driving toward birth control breakthroughs and changing the norm for family planning.

In the 1910s, Sanger became an advocate for birth control. As the years went on, Margaret Sanger became associated with the term of birth control and even later, eugenics. In the 1920s, she gave a speech entitled “The Morality of Birth Control”. In the speech, she addressed why birth control should be legal and why women deserve

In 1916 overpopulation was a growing issue. Many children were coming into the world unintentionally and unwanted. Margaret Sanger believed that all women should have the ability to choose if and when they wanted to become mothers by giving them access to birth control. Sanger’s family had 11 children and she worked as a nurse. Sanger worked in New York City slums with poor families and mothers constantly giving birth to unwanted children.

In the 1920s, birth control was a very significant issue that led to the controversial debate between Winter Russell and Margaret Sanger. Most people believed that Planned Parenthood caused the decline of population in human race. Many viewed it harmful to human being’s welfare. Sanger’s debate about birth control was to stand for the entitlement of women to access birth control. Today in our society, birth control plays a big role in our lives.

Margaret Sanger produced the first birth control pill, arguably the most salient innovation for women’s reproductive rights in the 20th century. At seventy, Sanger had spent decades fighting for women’s rights and had made several valuable contributions, but she was still frustrated with a lack of effective birth control in America. (Eig 30). In 1959, she employed the scientific knowledge of Gregory Pincus to produce the world’s first oral birth control drug. (The Pill”).

As one of her eleven siblings in a poor family, Margaret couldn’t help but to feel inferior and long for a rich and comfortable lifestyle. When Sanger’s mother died at the age of forty, Margaret believed that her mother’s premature death was a consequence of excessive childbirth. Along with this mindset, as a young girl, Margaret formed a mindset that poverty, illness, and strife were all fates for large families, whereas small families enjoyed wealth, leisure, and positive parental relationships (Croft). It came to no surprise that Sanger, with such a harsh childhood, grew up to become one of the biggest, if not the biggest, advocates for birth control. Soon after her mother’s death, Margaret decided to become a nurse.

Trying to prevent neglected children and back-alley abortions, Margaret Sanger gave the moving speech, “The Children’s Era,” in 1925 to spread information on the benefits and need for birth control and women's rights. Margaret Sanger--activist, educator, writer, and nurse--opened the first birth control clinic in the United States and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. During most of the 1900’s, birth control and abortions were illegal in the United States, causing women to give birth unwillingly to a child they must be fully responsible for. This caused illness and possible death for women attempting self-induced abortion. Sanger uses literary devices such as repetition and analogies

In 1960, the first birth control pill was put on the market. This was the first time a woman’s reproductive health was in her own control. Ever since the 1900’s women have been fighting for the right to their own reproductive rights (“The Fight for Reproductive Rights”). With the upcoming presidential election the right to obtain birth control and other contraceptives for women could be jeopardized, and taken out of the control of the woman. Thus, the history of birth control, the statistics of how it affects today’s society, why women should have the ability to obtain it easily, and how if outlawed it would not only hurt women, but also the economy are all important topics in the women’s rights movement and very relevant in modern day society.

Many parents do not like the idea of this but, “46% of teens are sexually active and by the time they are seniors 62% are sexually active.” (kurt) This fact is alarming and birth control for teens is a very controversial topic. Should Teens be able to get birth control without consent of parents? We will discuss the positive and negative effects of birth control for teens using the need for birth control, effects of birth control, and the teen mom dropouts to show how necessary birth control is.

Culture and Religion seem to be working hand in hand in society, when looking at culture we look at characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, food, social habits (things that are done natural e.g. saying please and thank you), music and arts. With religion people often use the word to mean the worship of a god or gods. However, some religions do not have gods. One thing that all religions have in common is that they help their believers to find meaning and comfort in the world by using some aspects from that particular religion. With culture and religion playing a big role in our everyday and life choices contraceptives go against a lot of cultural and religion choices and