Tetra Images
Birth control hasn’t enjoyed the most glamorous of upbringings.
Ancient Egyptians soaked cotton in a paste of dates, honey and acacia bark and inserted it into their vaginas – a combination which sounds alarmingly similar to my grandmother’s coffee cake recipe.
In the 1640’s the first condoms were made in France out of animal gut tissues. Future PETA members everywhere died a little.
In the 18th century, Casanova attempted to goad his partners into using the empty rind of a half-lemon as a cervical cap. At least they didn’t need to worry about scurvy!
In the 1930s, women trusted something called the Lysol Douche to prevent pregnancy. They also turned royal blue but were sparkling and rust-free for days.
In 1998, Bobby Daniels told me that if we did it standing up, I wouldn’t get pregnant.
But throughout the more recent years, one form of birth control has stuck with us, protecting millions of women from unwanted pregnancy: The birth control pill. And this week, we celebrate its 50th anniversary. That Hugh Hefner opened his first Playboy club in Chicago that same year was, I’m sure, a coincidence, but thank God those little 28-packs of pills came along, because I can count on one hand the number of women I know who have not benefitted from this empowering invention in some way. Most of us took/take it to avoid pregnancy. Some use it to control acne. Others are prescribed the Pill to help combat severe premenstrual moodiness and depression. The Pill can lessen painful cramps, induce a period and help a woman prepare for in vitro fertilization. OCs also decrease your risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer and ovarian cysts.
I started the Pill waaaay back in 1995. I was a sophomore in college and getting ready to have sex for the first time, with my first real boyfriend, who patiently waited nine months for me to be ready. I marched myself down to University Health Services, said hello to Mr. Speculum and BAM! I was contraceptive-bound and ready to rock and roll.
I loved being on the Pill. My period became so regular, I could predict it better than most weatherman can predict imminent rain. Every fourth Tuesday, around 10 a.m. CST, the Red Tent would pitch itself in my backyard, staying for a tolerable five days and then packing up and heading off into the sunset for another month. My skin was almost always clear, I barely had cramps. Oh yeah…and I never had a single pregnancy scare.
On Fridays, I volunteer at Planned Parenthood and I must say, it's continually shocking to me to see the number of sexually active women who do not know how to use the birth control pill. So I’ll sit with them and explain how to start their first pill on a Sunday, following the circular pattern until they wind up at the placebo week. I have them poke a pill out of the sample pack so they can get a feel for what reproductive freedom feels like. Many of them worry about punctuality, about the responsibility of taking the Pill at the same time every day. I encourage them to set an alarm on their cell phone to remind them…because otherwise, they’re going to have the pitter-patter of tiny little feet to jog their memory. And as I watch them leave, I'm filled with a combination of hope -- that they’ll take it as directed -- and gratitude, thankful that we have such a powerful tool available to us.
Now that my husband and I are trying for Baby #1, I’ve bid farewell to my little white, pink and blue friends. Of course, after I went off them, it took three months for my period to return, a quarter-year during which all I could think was, "I can't believe I've been swallowing these damn things every day for 14 years and I didn't even need them!" But my ob/gyn explained that my estrogen levels were low, and by taking the Pill, I’d actually been protecting myself against osteoporosis (estrogen helps your body lay down bone.) Yet another benefit of the Pill reaped.
Am I planning on naming our firstborn Yaz, Seasonique, Femcon or Ortho Tri-Cyclen? Probably not (I think "Ellie" has a nicer ring to it, no?) But I will continue to praise the Pill and the women and men who fought to make it available, and look forward to the day when I can teach my daughter how to empower and protect herself.
For a history of the Pill, click here.
To see how soon we might have a birth control pill for men, click here.
To learn which birth control pill might benefit you, click here.
Want to know which women may want to avoid the Pill? Click here.
What's your experience with the Pill? Chime in below!
