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LaShawn Johnson
Prof. Linda Lambert
English 101
September 19, 2014
BIRTH CONTROL

Did you know that the first birth control pill was invented by Carl Djerassi? A chemist in
Mexico City who was not equipped to produce, distribute or even test his invention. Djerassi
creates this pill by synthesizing hormones from Mexican yams on a chemical level. Although
Djerassi already created the pill he did not get any credit for his invention until recent days.
Around the same time a woman and a man named Margret Sanger and Gregory Pincus where
working on this exact pill. It took Sanger and Pincus around nine years to get there pill approved
by the FDA.
In 1914, Margaret Sanger coins the term birth control, Margaret is and activist that
opens the first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Soon after that Margaret starts the
American Birth Control League, the precursor to Planned Parenthood. Margaret met Gregory
Pincus at a dinner party in New York in 1951. At this party Margret decided to persuade him to
create a birth control pill. Gregory couldnt conduct the pill on his own son he contacted help
from some other doctors and scientist. They include a gynecologist John Rock, who has already
begun testing chemical contraception in women. Frank Colton, chief chemist at the
pharmaceutical company Searle, who also independently develops synthetic progesterone.
In 1953, the research begins. Katherine McCormick a biologist and a womens rights
activist writes Gregory check for $40,000 to conduct research. Gregory conducts the first human
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trials on 50 women in Massachusetts. Surprisingly the birth control pill actually works. Because
there was no anti-birth control laws on the books clinical trials are conducted in Puerto Rico.
Even though the pill had some serious side effects the pill was deemed 100 percent effective. A
year later the pill was approved by the FDA, but only for severe menstrual disorders. After a year
of the pill being approved the FDA approves the pill for contraceptive use.
Today almost 10.7 million people in the U.S are using birth control pill. The reason why
creating birth control was in the song we didnt start the fire is because it as One of the
greatest things created for women. The birth control pill is use to help women in so many
different ways. Whether its helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies or its helping to regulate
menstrual cycles. That is why birth control was so important even important enough in
Americas history during the life changing time of the 60s to have been put into the song we
didnt start the fire.










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Work cited


Nikolchev, Alexandra "A brief history of the birth control pill" Need To Know. PBS, Web. 7 may 2010.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-control-pill/480/
Wind, Rebecca many American women use birth control pills for noncontraceptive reasons
guttmacher, web. November 15, 2011
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2011/11/15/