Birth Control

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Recommended: Birth control from 1960 to present

People have been having sex since the beginning of time; after all, how would we be here today if they had not. Yet, there has also been the pervasive problem of how to gain control over reproduction, in essence, how to prevent unwanted pregnancies. This is a challenge, even today, in an age of technological advancements, mass communication and education. However, through the years, the spread of information and awareness surrounding birth control has resulted in its increased availability and an improvement in the lives of both men and women.

People are very clever and ingenious and have, throughout history, devised a variety of birth control methods. The earliest known contraceptive came from the Egyptian women of around 1500 B.C. They were thought to have created a suppository of crocodile dung and honey. The acidity of the crocodile dung could, potentially, kill the sperm, and the stickiness of the honey was supposed to stop the sperm from entering the woman (Wikipedia 2). Other forms of suppositories also were used, ranging from olive oil and honey, to cloths soaked in vinegar. Women also used a variety of herbal abortifacients (which are used to induce abortion). They are “part of a folk culture of herbal medicine handed down among women for thousands of years” (London 2). One example of an abortifacient is the ancient French and German use of the root of worm fern. It was commonly called the “prostitute root” by the French (London 2). More modern abortifacients include turpentine, castor oil and ammonia, to name a few. Frighteningly, the ingestion of small amounts of poison was another tried method, including mercury and arsenic. A list of various additional, popular contraceptive methods included “withdrawal ...

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Works Cited:

1) Gordon, Linda. Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right- A Social History of Birth Control in America. NY: Grossman Publishers, 1976.

2) London, Kathleen. Yale- New Haven Teachers Institute. The History of Birth Control. 2004. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/6/82.06.03.x.html

3) Oyler, Julie M.D. The History of Birth Control. University of Chicago Hospitals. 18 March 2003. http://imr.bsd.uchicago.edu/chiefs/History%20of%20Medicine/Birth%20Control_files/v3_document.htm

4) “Birth Control.” Wikipedia. 2004 Wikipedia- the free encyclopedia. 29 October 2004. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_control>

5) “Birth Control.” Houghton Mifflin. 2004 A Reader’s Companion to American History http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_009600_birthcontrol.htm

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