What Birth Control Was Like In Every Decade Since the 1900s

The first condoms were invented way back in ancient Egypt, when historians believed a linen sheath was used to protect the penis from insects. The concept eventually evolved until people were using animal parts like goat bladders (thanks, Romans), and by the early 1900s, men were using condoms made from vulcanized rubber. Using a condom during this time was totally frowned upon though, and people assumed if you used condoms you were sexually promiscuous — a big no-no.  

In 1906, the first spermicidal jelly, called Patentex, was developed and sold in Europe. Rubber cervical caps that women placed into their vaginas to block sperm were sometimes used. And in 1909, the first intrauterine device was introduced, but it was still in the developmental stage and wasn't yet offered to women. 

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In the 1870s, the Comstock Laws outlawed the distribution of informational pamphlets about contraception, but in the 1910s, Margaret Sanger defied those laws and began publishing articles about birth control before founding the National Birth Control League. Sanger opened a birth control clinic in New York City in 1916. She and others were arrested for breaking the Comstock Laws (but that didn't stop Sanger from opening the nascent version of what later became Planned Parenthood in 1922 ). 

Some of the most popular birth control methods and devices in the 1910s included spermicides, douches, an early diaphragm called the Dutch pessary, and ergot pills, which induced abortions. After World War I ended, the spread of venereal disease caused alarm, spurring decisions like one made in a New York appeals court in 1918 that decided birth control was an effective medical device to ward off disease. Condom companies were now free to sell condoms at places like pharmacies and barbershops, as long as they were marketed as tools "for the prevention of disease only." 

In the 1920s, German-born physician and scientist Ernst Graefenberg developed a silver intrauterine device that women could insert into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. If that didn't suit you, perhaps you'd be interested in inserting a glass stemmed pessary into your vagina and crossing your fingers that the attached cup could keep it from getting "lost" in your uterus. 

If you lived in London, you had a special treat: devices like the "Prorace," which contained spermicides and were used with cervical caps (pictured) or diaphragms. As the controversial name suggests, the purpose of this contraception was to further the cause of Eugenics, a theory that pushed for selective breeding to increase so-called desirable, heritable characteristics. 

Birth control was not viewed favorably by most religious groups (particularly Catholics) and even doctors, some of whom claimed the pull-out method could lead to impotence, nervousness, and even the hardening of the uterus. In fact, there were states where purchasing condoms was against the law and where priests threatened women who used black market diaphragms, saying it would cause them to be haunted by their unborn children. Sanger, Planned Parenthood, and local clinics offered "woman-controlled forms of birth control" and reading materials on contraception. But, partly because women weren't expected to enjoy sex, using birth control was still considered immoral in many circles. 

Birth control become a major court issue in the 1930s, which helped to make it more acceptable. In 1930, two condom companies sued each other in a case that became known as Youngs Rubber, and courts decided that it was no longer illegal to distribute contraceptions across state lines — as long as it could be proven they had a medical purpose. Then, 6 years later, Sanger, decided to shake things up by ordering diaphragms from Japan and having them delivered to a physician who supported her fight; the device was confiscated by U.S. officials. This led to another court battle called One Package, where it was decided that birth control could be purchased and delivered via mail. 

That victory was even more crucial: It opened the doors for the American Medical Association to approve birth control as a part of the medical practice. Doctors could now recommend and offer birth control to patients. Pharmacy vending machines began selling condoms and other common contraceptions included diaphragms and spermicidal jelly.

One of the problems with involving doctors in contraception was that many women in the '30s and '40s either didn't have a family physician or didn't want to have a doctor examine them just to be prescribed a diaphragm, which was how they had to get it. Feminine hygiene, however, was expected from women and they could purchase vaginal jellies, suppositories, douches, and foaming tablets over the counter — these product were were marketed as birth control, suggesting that keeping your body clean would rid the body of sperm.

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In 1950, Sanger helped raise $150,000 for the development of a birth control pill for women. Clinical trials of oral contraceptives began in 1956, but women still had to wait a few years before they could welcome the pill into their sex lives. 

Many people still think of women in the1950s as virginal, waiting to have sex until they were married, but the truth is half of all American women had sex before marriage in the early '50s — and the pill wasn't the reason for more sexual freedom (credit for that goes to dating customs that started in the 1920s). 

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The '60s were a time of revolutionary change, mainly thanks to the FDA's approval in 1960 of Enovid-10, the first oral birth control pill. Even though the pill was deemed 99.9 percent effective, it had problems — and wasn't widely available to all women. The first pill contained 4 times the estrogen and 10 times the progestin of modern-day oral contraceptives, and many women experienced side effects like bleeding, nausea, and weight gain. Additional research revealed the pill could be linked to more serious problems like blood clots, heart disease, and stroke.

The pill helped put women, for the first time, in control of their own fertility, but the vision many women have today  of the liberated, pill-taking woman in the 1960s really was more myth than reality. The brave single women who asked their doctors for oral birth control were often denied their requests, either because of a physician's personal feelings about sex and morality or because state law prohibited them from doing so. And in many states, it was still against the law for married couples to use birth control. This changed in 1965 when the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that married couples could purchase birth control. Still, there were millions of unmarried women in 26 states who could not legally obtain contraception. 

Thanks to the work of experts like medical journalist Barbara Seaman and feminist groups like the D.C. Women's Liberation group, who were suspicious and vocal at Congressional hearings about the health risks associated with the first birth control pill, the formula for oral contraception was improved upon. Sexual liberation truly became a reality in 1972, when the Supreme Court legalized birth control for everyone — married or single.

The pill became such a popular method of birth control — with the number of women taking it increasing from 1.2 million to 6.5 million by the early '70s — that it was even immortalized in a 1975 country song by Loretta Lynn called "The Pill". But health scares about oral contraception were still a very real concern, and sales of the pill dropped by 24 percent by 1979 because of associated risks.  In 1974, the FDA suspended the sale of the Dalkon Shield IUD after women reported infections and most IUDs were quietly removed from the market during this decade because of a fear of lawsuits.

The 1970s marked another huge step forward in woman's reproductive rights: In 1973, landmark case Roe v. Wade prohibited states from outlawing or regulating first trimester abortions, which further opened the door to the belief that women were in control of their bodies.

Women who were afraid of the original, high-dose version of the pill had reason to rejoice in the '80s: In 1988, the FDA approved new oral contraception that contained lower doses of hormones and was proven to decrease the risk of ovarian cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, and iron deficiency anemia. And after the great IUD scare of the '70s, a new copper IUD called ParaGard was introduced. 

But there was a new health scare in the 1980s that affected birth control use: The spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases led to an increase in condom use from 1988 to 1995 (from 15 percent to 20 percent), according to the Guttmacher Institute, and a decrease in relying on the pill (from 31 percent to 27 percent) and diaphragms. Whatever the method, the good news was that more women were using contraception during this decade: 56 percent of women used birth control in 1982, and that percentage rose to 60% by 1988.

The 1990s were a decade of innovative birth control developments. One of those new methods was Norplant, the first contraceptive implant, which had to be inserted under the skin while under anesthesia (it would later be removed from the market in 2002 after several complaints about side effects). Birth control pills were evolving and becoming desirable as multipurpose solutions — in addition to preventing pregnancy, Ortho Pharmaceutical's Tri-Cyclen pill was approved by the FDA for the treatment of acne. DepoProvera, an injectable birth control, was introduced in 1992, the first female condom followed one year later. And in 1999, the controversial Plan B debuted, making it possible to use at-home emergency contraception after sex.

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The IUD market experienced a major boost in the 2000s with the release of Mirena, a levonorgestrel-releasing IUD, and Implanon, a single-rod implant. Other developments included a vaginal ring called the Nuvaring, a more modern female condom called FC2, the hormonal patch Ortho Evra, the FDA approval of Seasonale, a birth control pill that gives women periods four times a year; and Plan B One-Step, which could be purchased in 2013 without a prescription.

The most popular forms of contraception used as of 2012 are the pill, tubal (female) sterilization, male condoms, IUDs, and male vasectomies. Thanks to Obamacare, health insurance plans are required to cover FDA-approved contraceptives with no copay, which has benefitted about 30 million women in America, according to Planned Parenthood. 

However, access to contraception may be at risk, particularly since President Donald Trump has been quite vocal about his desire to repeal Obamacare. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump instated laws that will make getting safe abortions harder. Women took to the streets across America for a now-historic Women's March on January 20, 2017, and some women rushed to get IUDs implanted out of fear that birth control would become difficult to access.