This month, the birth control pill turns 50. The pill, as it quickly came to be known, was originally used to treat infertility and menstrual disorders. The Food & Drug Administration approved the pill as a contraceptive on May 11, 1960. Within two years of its approval, 1.2 million American women were taking the pill every day. By 1964, the pill was the most popular contraceptive in the country. It unleashed a contraceptive revolution. For the first time, women had access to an effective form of birth control that did not require men’s cooperation or even their knowledge.
Press play to listen to Your Call with Rose Aguilar: “How Has the Pill Affected Women’s Lives?”:
Press play to listen to Your Call with Rose Aguilar: “How Has the Pill Affected Women’s Lives?”:
But at the time, the pill was more than a convenient and reliable method to prevent pregnancy. For its advocates, developers, manufacturers, and users, the pill promised to solve many of the world’s problems, including population growth, poverty, and unwanted pregnancies.
Historian Elaine Tyler May says as it turned out, many of those promises fell flat, but the pill did become a major player in many of the most dramatic and contentious issues of the last half of the 20th century, namely women’s emancipation.
How did the pill change society? How did it affect you?
Guest:
- Elaine Tyler May is author of “America + The Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation. She’s professor of American Studies and History at the University of Minnesota. Her parents, Edward and Lillian Tyler, were involved in the pill’s early development and distribution.
Rose Aguilar is the host of Your Call, a daily call-in show on KALW 91.7 FM in San Francisco and KUSP 88.9 FM in Santa Cruz. Follow her on Twitter.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $110,000 in one-time donations and to add 1350 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
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With gratitude and resolve,
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