Controversial and Chaotic Contraceptives
The pill was one of the most controversial
issues raised in the 20th century. During this period of time there was a real
concern of overpopulation worldwide and the dwindling amount of resources. “
Thus fear of self-annihilation through the depletion of natural resources
meshed easily with Cold War concerns about the spread of communism and nuclear
extinction”[Andrea Tone, Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in
America. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001, 200-292].
Feminists feared that the big drug corporations
were using women as guinea-pigs to further the development of the birth control
pill. To women in the 20th century it was freedom, freedom to control one’s
body. Filled with fear and suspicion the African-American population considered
the pill a form of racial genocide. “Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s
nationalists reiterated the long standing fear that birth control would lead to
race suicide by subduing the size and strength of the black population.
African-Americans could not afford attrition at the time when blacks had
finally gained, through the Voting Rights Act of 1964, the promise of universal
suffrage. Large black families were the community’s insurance against racial
experimentation, its best promise for political and social gain” [Tone,
254-255].
Margaret Sanger and Katharine McCormick took
interest in the pursuit of the birth control pill. A pill that would place
women in control of their bodies. In Margaret Sanger’s point of view the pill
would liberate women from the control and reliability of men to prevent pregnancies.
“ The pill accomplished what the diaphragm had not. It created widespread
doctor and patient acceptance of medical birth control” [Tone,201]. With the
determination of Sanger and the financial backing of McCormick the development
of pill would occur through the work of two scientists (Dr. Pincus and
Dr.Rock). Although Sanger was a supporter of the pill McCormick kept a close
watch on Pincus and the development of the pill. The first large-scale clinical
trial for birth control was held in Puerto Rico where Pincus believed was far
away from the probing American media. The result of the trial proved mediocre
at best and several horrible side effects occurred. “ Then too, there were the
medical side effects: nausea, dizziness, headaches, stomach pain, and vomiting”
[Tone, 223]. Pincus thought the side effects were minimal enough that the pill
still could be marketed within the United States. In 1957, the oral
contraceptive Enovid was released to the general public. Most American women
overlooked the side effects because the benefit of non-pregnancy was extremely
effective. This opportunity provided women with choices concerning family
matters and career aspirations.
Although the birth control pill was a promising
contraceptive IUDs would become America’s most used contraceptive. “ In this
political climate, the development of intrauterine devices seemed a godsend.
Cheaper than the pill, virtually impossible for a women to remove, and requiring
only a single ‘ motivated’ act--the decision to have one inserted--the IUD
seemed too good to be true” [Tone, 263]. The most notable and infamous IUD is
the Dalkon Shield created by Hugh Davis. Later Irwin Lerner modified the Dalkon
Shield and filed a patent as the sole inventor. The Dalkon Shield was released
in 1968 and over two million women used it. The Dalkon Shield was cited as the
most effective and safe IUD in the market. Later the Dalkon Shield would prove
to be anything by reliable or safe. The “Dalkon Shield caused over 200,000
infections, miscarriages, hysterectomies, and other gynecological complications
and led to an untold number of birth defects , caused by contact between the
device and the developing fetus” [Tone, 279]. Unfortunately, the FDA had limited
power to regulate the medical device industry. Only after the fact of
ineffectiveness and danger could the FDA remove the product.“ In 1984, the
company’s legal team was rattled by the actions of Judge Miles Lord, a federal
judge in Minnesota who had been assigned to hear twenty-three Dalkon Shield
cases...The judge’s consolidation order denied the company the opportunity to
defend itself by examining and attacking each plaintiff’s sexual history”
[Tone, 281]. Dalkon Shield lost the lawsuit and thus resulted in the recall of
the product in 1984.
