Opinion Pieces, News Programs Mark 50th Anniversary Of Birth Control Pill

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 11 May 2010 - 2:00 PDT


The Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Washington Post recently published opinion pieces examining issues related to the 50th anniversary of FDA's approval of the first birth control pill. Summaries appear below.

~ Malcolm Potts, Los Angeles Times: Researchers "can say with confidence that the pill is indeed a philosopher's stone, extending life by a measurable amount," Potts -- a British obstetrician and University of California-Berkeley professor -- writes, citing the recent publication of a 39-year study that compared 23,000 women using oral contraceptives with an equal number who did not use them. The study offers a "mind-boggling cumulative total of 1.2 million women-years of observation," he continues, adding, "At last we have the information we needed for so many decades." The findings affirm the pill's many benefits beyond contraception, including that it is the "only drug a doctor can prescribe that is known to prevent cancer," such as ovarian or uterine cancers, according to Potts. In addition, by allowing women to space pregnancies, the pill has the power to reduce infant and maternal mortality, Potts argues. Despite its benefits, the pill is "misunderstood because it has remained a prescription drug," Potts continues. He writes that the pill is only available by prescription "for reasons of pharmaceutical companies' profit rather than for the welfare of women," adding, "Not until the pill is on sale next to Extra Strength Tylenol will women believe how safe it really is" (Potts, Los Angeles Times, 5/9).

~ Gail Collins, New York Times: The history of the pill is "a story about science and obviously sex," but it is "also a saga about getting information," columnist Collins writes. Over the last two decades, "protests from the social right have made politicians frightened of mentioning birth control and school boards frightened of including it in the curriculum," she states. "Even though 100 million women take the pill every day, ... the terror of mentioning birth control is so great that the humongous new health care reform act (PL 111-148) has managed to avoid bringing it up at all," Collins continues. She adds that women's health advocates "are hoping that when the regulations are finally written, they will require health insurance to cover birth control pills like any other drug," but "nobody is sure." Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards told Collins, "If the [Obama] administration would announce tomorrow that all birth control would be free for every woman in America, I think the health care plan would gain 30 points in popularity overnight" (Collins, New York Times, 5/8).

~ Elaine Tyler May, Washington Post: The "great accomplishment" of the birth control pill "was not in preventing motherhood, but in making it better by allowing women to have children on their own terms," according to May, a University of Minnesota professor and author of the new book, "America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril and Liberation." She notes that the first users of the pill were "overwhelmingly mothers," adding that the pill made it "possible for women to plan for children, to limit their number and to space them according to their own aspirations -- all to a degree that earlier forms of contraception hadn't been able to deliver." Although the pill "may have been a gift to mothers," 50 years after its approval, "it could use some new accessories," such as "lengthy paid parental leaves, government-supported child care and flex-time," May writes (May, Washington Post, 5/9).

Rachel Maddow Show, NPR Highlight Pill Anniversary

~ MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show": Host Maddow marked the 50th anniversary of the pill's approval by playing Loretta Lynn's 1974 song "The Pill" (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 5/7).

~ NBC's "Today Show": NBC Chief Medical Editor Nancy Snyderman reported on the history of the pill and other developments in oral contraception. The segment also included a discussion with Time Executive Editor Nancy Gibbs about the pill's role in society (Snyderman, "Today Show," NBC, 5/7).

~ NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday": The program included a discussion with Time Executive Editor Nancy Gibbs, who recently wrote an article examining the impact of the birth control pill over the past five decades. Gibbs said the pill allowed women to invest more in their education because they "did not have to worry that an unintended pregnancy might derail these plans," and it made it "much harder for employers to discriminate against women on the ground that [they] might just get pregnant and drop out of the workforce." She also said that despite numerous research affirming the pill's safety, "there is still a real question in women's minds, and every survey reveals this, about its safety for long-term use," adding that "it's almost as though no amount of research is going to allay those concerns" (Hansen, "Weekend Edition Sunday," NPR, 5/9).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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