The Women's Reproductive Rights Movement

In 1960, the first birth control pill was put on the market. This was the first time a woman’s reproductive health was in her own control. Ever since the 1900’s women have been fighting for the right to their own reproductive rights (“The Fight for Reproductive Rights”). With the upcoming presidential election the right to obtain birth control and other contraceptives for women could be jeopardized, and taken out of the control of the woman. Thus, the history of birth control, the statistics of how it affects today’s society, why women should have the ability to obtain it easily, and how if outlawed it would not only hurt women, but also the economy are all important topics in the women’s rights movement and very relevant in modern day society.

The first recorded account of contraceptives was in 3000 BC when men formulated condoms out of fish bladders and linen sheaths (“A Brief History of Birth Control in the U.S.-Our Bodies Ourselves”). The fact that people have felt the need for contraceptives since 3000 BC is a good testament to the need for modern day ways to prevent pregnancy. According to the same article, in the 1500’s the first spermicide was developed and used, and in 1838 the first modernized rubber condom was invented. After centuries of using different forms of birth control, in 1960, the first oral contraceptive, which was called Enovid, went on the market and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Only eight years later, the inter-uterine device (IUD) was developed and went on the market as the products of Lippes Loop and Copper 7. In 1980, only three and a half decades ago, Paraguard was developed, and oral contraceptives began being made with low doses of hormones to increase their efficiency (“A Brief History of Birth Control in the U.S.-Our Bodies Ourselves”). Over the past several decades, birth control has evolved and made many women’s lives easier, but the ability to obtain contraceptives was not always so

For a woman to achieve this she would need to use contraceptives for around three decades (“Contraceptive Use in the United States.”). Even with the technology that has come about recently that gives women the ability to track ovulation, medical birth control is still needed. About 61 million women in the U.S are at the age for child bearing, but about 43 million of these women are at risk for unwanted pregnancy (“Contraceptive Use in the United States.”). This means that either they do not have the means to purchase birth control, their religious beliefs restrict them from acquiring contraceptives, or a multitude of other various reasons. Couples who do not use any form of contraceptives have about an eighty-five percent chance of becoming pregnant in a year. The age group that is most likely to become pregnant from not using any type of contraceptive method are those ages fifteen to eighteen. About eighteen percent of sexually active teens in this age group are not using any type of birth control (“Contraceptive Use in the United States.”). The biggest contributors to this are their lack of knowledge and the difficulty that comes with obtaining many forms of birth