Through the years, people and communities have tried different methods to avoid pregnancy. Before modern methods, they relied on the withdrawal methods as a form of birth control. Most of the methods were not reliable. Although it is an ancient practice, coitus interruptus is still used today by some people. The old Testament also mentions this practice (Genesis 38. So each time he went into his brother's wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring.) and just like it was that time, it is still not reliable. Some forms of ancient birth control were just bizarre. For instance, in Egypt around 1500bc, women would make a thick solid paste of honey, crocodile dung and sodium chloride and insert it into their vaginas right before sex. However, due to the crocodile’s dung reaction with a woman’s PH level, contrary to the intended purpose, it increased the chances of pregnancy. In early China, concubines drank a mixture of mercury and led(Pb) to prevent pregnancy. It resulted in cases of brain damage, sterility, kidney failure and death. Around the year 200, a Greek gynecologist Soranus blindly advised women to avoid sexual contact during menstrual bleeding; he believed it was their most fertile period in the month. He also suggested that they hold their breath and sneeze immediately after intercourse to prevent the sperm from entering the womb. His methods were just plain right silly. In Persia, in the tenth century, they used the magical number system to prevent pregnancy. It involved women jumping backward nine or seven times right after sex to dislodge the sperm. As unreliable as most of these methods sound, research reveals that some of the ancient methods used were not all shots in the dark. For instance, Egyptians used Pessaries made from acacia gum which was discovered to contain protective qualities.
The history of contraceptives was not all about herbs; researchers found a 15,000 years old cave painting that illustrated a man wearing a condom. The use of condom also dates back to 300 BC where King Minos son of Zeus would use goat bladders as condoms. Later Gabriel Fallopius, a European doctor and as the name suggests, named after the fallopian tubes, invented a primitive form of the cervical cap during a syphilis epidemic. Condoms took a technological turn in the year 1844 when an American engineer, Charles Goodyear vulcanized rubber for mass production of condoms. It also resulted to the reappearance of the cervical caps and the earliest form of diaphragms, known as womb veils during that time.
Just when things were looking good about contraceptives, an American postmaster Anthony Comstock began a crusade against them. The campaign led to the passing of the Comstock Act in 1873. The law prevented the spread of any information concerning contraceptives either through advertisements or doctors. In the 20th century, the world would witness a massive revolution and development of birth control. The term birth control has its origin from Margaret Sanger, a determined nurse who revolutionized contraceptive production in America. She launched a newsletter that offered all the information that the people needed about birth control. Sanger got indicted for breaching the law which forced her to flee to avoid trial. She later went back in 1916 and opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. Five years into the practice, she would then form the American birth control league. Neither legal nor religious restriction would hinder sanger’s efforts. In the 1930s, the then Pope Pius XI declared contraceptives a grave sin, but the use of contraceptives had become big business and difficult to stop. In 1937 sanger’s efforts were made when the American medical association recognized the use of birth control as a legitimate medical practice. A year later, the court lifted the ban on birth control.
The 1950s marked the arrival of the pill. Sanger collaborated with Gregory Pincus, an American biologist, who had a doctor Frankenstein kind of reputation due to his experimentation on Vitro fertilization. She asked the biologist to conduct research on contraceptive hormones. Unknown to them, a Mexican scientist had already discovered a progesterone pill made out of wild yams, capable of blocking ovulation. Funded by Katherine McCormick, Pincus, on the other hand, was breaking ground when he discovered a synthetic hormone that could hinder ovulation. A gynecologist called John Rock tested the hormone in women, and it worked.
The landmark came in 1960 when FDA officially agreed for the production and release of the birth control pill. By 1965, close to 6.5 million women in the US were using the pill to avoid pregnancy. The name “the pill” stemmed from women requesting for it as discreetly as possible. By 1966, the pill was widely approved and recognized in many states. It was a medical phenomenon that has had no match in history. By 1973, 70% of women between 14 and 49 years were using some form of contraceptive. The pill gained international recognition in 1967 and despite the tablet’s strict instructions of use, illiterate women all over the world still managed.
The pills also had its fair share of critics; the fact that its rise happened at the same time as the second wave of feminism meant that many people viewed it as something that changed the society. Some African American believed that the pill was targeting them in the form of “black genocide.” But the popularity of the tablet still caught on. Today, more than 100 million women around the globe rely on the pill as their primary form of birth control method. This number is with an exemption of women who are using other types of contraceptives.
Male and female contraceptives.
Contraceptives date all the way to the biblical times and through the years they have experienced revolutions, improvement, and diversification. Today there are more than a dozen forms of contraceptives in the market. These methods range from surgeries, oral contraceptives, hormonal to natural contraceptives. When avoiding unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease, it is mandatory that people stay educated about the various types of contraceptives and their future. The history of birth control dates to a time when men used different animal skins as contraceptives. And as the years pass by, research has discovered the full functionally of the human reproductive system, and with this information managed to come up with modern forms of contraceptives. One of the most interesting things about the evolution of contraceptives is the types of things and substances women had to put in their vaginas to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Things like crocodile dung in Egypt and animal ear wax. Very absurd methods, but the evolution had to start from somewhere.
In our world today, there are fourteen forms of contraceptives. It is mandatory for men and women to know how they work, the effects, and the various advantages and disadvantages that each has. The most common form of contraception is the natural method. It relies on a woman’s knowledge of her menstrual cycle. The essence of the method is to avoid sexual intercourse during a woman’s most fertile period of the month. The woman needs to be aware of her most productive days and her safe days. Although this is not a medical method, there are fertility monitors, calendars that can predict the ovulation cycle. This process works when it is applied consistently and when the woman has regular periods. It involves mastering the rhythm of the cycle. One significant selling point of this method is that it is natural and applies to people whose religions and cultures condemn the use of contraceptives. It does not involve the utilization of any chemical drugs, injections and bears no side effects. It, however, has a disadvantage. Natural birth control does not offer any form of protection against sexually transmitted diseases. The method also requires the man and women to abstain from sex for seven days, every month.
There are also hormonal forms of birth control for females. Norplant is one of the most common methods of hormonal contraceptives. It involves the insertion of six silicon rods under a woman’s skin on her upper arm. The rods encapsulate Progestin Levonorgestrel, a synthetic hormone slowly released through the walls of the silicon rods to suppress ovulation. It reduces the chances of the ovum reaching the fallopian tube and also impairs sperm motility. One selling point of this method is its efficiency, only 2% of women who use this approach end up pregnant. The method is reliable and requires very low maintenance. The downside of this silicon rods is that women have to remove them after five years. The removal process is quite painful. It also does not offer any form of protection against HIV or other types of STDs.
Another kind of women oral contraceptives is the pill. It is an oral form, and the pill contains hormones progesterone and estrogen, a female hormone capable of preventing the release of the ovum to the uterus. After taking the pill, some women may experience menstrual bleeding while some do not. Under oral pills, there is also the progesterone pill that contains only one active hormone. It works by thickening cervical fluids to hinder sperms from passing through. It also makes the womb lining thinner so that it cannot hold a fertilized egg. Numbers state that only 2% of the women who use the pill end up pregnant. The pill can only fail when a person fails to take it within the first two days after sexual intercourse. The Pill also has some side effects like nausea, bleeding, and irregular cycles. These side effects do not, however, compromise the health of the woman.
The advantages of using oral contraceptives are: the method is 100% efficient, it does not affect sexual desire, and it also reduces the chance of ovarian and endometrial cancer. The pill does not have a lot of disadvantages, other than it does not guarantee protection against HIV or another form of STDs. It also has some off-putting side effects and health concerns.
Now, about the most shared and available form of contraceptives we have on the market. Condoms. They are the most commonly used, especially by the sexually active young members of the population. The use of condoms dates back to 1000 BC. It is the only method that men can use other than sterilization. Condoms offer a cylindrical rubber sheath that acts as a barrier against fertilization. It also protects both males and females against sexual diseases. Condoms bear the same effectiveness as birth control pills when used according to their instructions. An advantage of male condoms is that they do not require any prescription and people can buy them over the counter anytime. A disadvantage of using condoms is that they reduce sexual sensations for men, making the sex less spontaneous.