Although no fewer than five men have been credited as being the "father" of the birth control pill, two women deserve indisputable credit as its mothers: MIT-educated heiress Katherine McCormick and Margaret Sanger, who coined the term "birth control" and founded the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
These two women bullied and cajoled male scientists into creating a female contraceptive that could be swallowed, according to Bernard Asbell, author of "The Pill: A Biography of the Drug That Changed the World."
Because of their persistence, the first oral contraceptive--a drug combining synthetic estrogen and progestin to prevent ovulation--was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1960, 40 years ago.
For the first time in history, controlling a woman's fertility safely and effectively was as easy as popping a pill every day (if you remembered). A major medical achievement, the pill profoundly changed--and continues to change--the way women conduct their lives.
Within a year of its introduction, 400,000 American women were using the pill; within five years, 3.8 million were users.
Today, it is one of the two most popular contraceptive methods in the U.S., about on par with female sterilization, with more than 16 million users. Eight out of every 10 American women have used the pill at some point in their lives.
Providing more than 99% effectiveness for women who never miss a pill ("perfect" users) and about 94% for the "typical" users who do, the pill filled a gap in women's contraceptive needs. In contrast, the diaphragm and the male condom are only 85% to 87% effective with typical use.
The introduction of effective birth control brought enormous social changes. Not only were more women delaying motherhood and entering the work force, but sexual relationships between men and women became more equal.
"Because it allowed women to decide if and when they would have children, the pill provided a tremendous boost to women's equality," said Nancy Sasaki, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles.
By the same token, the pill tied women to the burden of contraception.
"[It] contributed to the decrease in communication about fertility among women and men," said Jacqueline Darroch, vice president for research at the Alan Guttmacher Institute.
