{"id":18845,"date":"2020-03-19T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T15:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=18845"},"modified":"2021-07-23T13:22:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T17:22:44","slug":"the-contraceptive-pill-up-for-debate-in-1969-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2020\/03\/19\/the-contraceptive-pill-up-for-debate-in-1969-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"The Contraceptive Pill: Up for Debate in 1969 and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Donna J. Drucker<\/em> ~<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Enovid-E packet box (G. D. Searle), July 1964
Courtesy Museum of Contraception and Abortion, Vienna, Austria<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

G.D. Searle\u2019s Enovid pill came on the market for married women in June 1960 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it for contraceptive use. It was available only with a doctor\u2019s prescription, and the FDA initially limited use to two years. As more and more women began to take it, it came under scrutiny by physicians, pharmaceutical companies, the FDA, and non-profit health organizations. By 1969, it was clear that the pill\u2019s combination of estrogen and progestin harmed some users, and each of these entities considered what steps to take next.<\/p>\n

Some of those considerations were made public through film. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) produced a series of nine educational films in 1969\u20131970 called \u201cConcepts and Controversies in Modern Medicine<\/a>.\u201d One of the topics that producers chose was the pill. Exploring the content and context of this film illustrates how information about the pill was publicly presented\u2014and the reasons why the U.S. feminist health movement organized and pushed for greater transparency in sexual and reproductive information not long afterward.<\/p>\n