The History Of Birth Control | TIME

Summary

The video traces attempts to prevent pregnancy from ancient times to the modern era. Contraception has a long history, though many early methods were ineffective or dangerous. Modern contraception became more widely available through advances such as mass-produced rubber condoms and, later, the birth-control pill. The video also emphasizes that access remains unequal around the world.

Main Ideas and Historical Examples

Ancient Methods Were Often Risky or Unreliable

• In ancient China, some concubines reportedly drank mixtures containing lead and mercury. These could cause severe harm, including organ damage, brain damage, sterility, or death.
• Ancient Egyptian women reportedly used a paste made from honey, sodium carbonate, and crocodile dung.
• Around the year 200, the Greek gynecologist Soranus advised women to hold their breath during intercourse and sneeze afterward.
• In medieval Europe, some women believed that wearing weasel testicles during sex would prevent pregnancy.

Older Practices Sometimes Resembled Later Contraceptive Devices

• Cave drawings in France appear to depict an early form of a condom.
• In his 18th-century memoirs, Casanova described using squeezed lemon halves as a barrier—a precursor in concept to the cervical cap.

The Modern Era Brought Wider Availability, but Also Restrictions

• The patenting of vulcanized rubber in the mid-19th century made it possible to mass-produce condoms.
• In the United States, anti-obscenity laws during the 19th and early 20th centuries restricted the distribution of contraception information, including by doctors.
• With limited access to reliable methods, some women tried household products such as Lysol or Coca-Cola, believing they would kill sperm. Lysol advertisements even promoted the product as a way to protect marital happiness.

The Pill Marked a Major Turning Point

• In 1960, the FDA approved an oral contraceptive pill.
• Activist Margaret Sanger and a team of doctors are credited with helping bring it about.
• Within five years, millions of American women had prescriptions for the pill. Other reliable methods, including IUDs, became available in the following decades.

Access Remains Unequal

• A 2013 report cited in the video found that 222 million women in developing countries wanted to use birth control but lacked access to it.
• The video contrasts this with the United States, where 99% of women of childbearing age reportedly said they had used some form of contraception.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Speaker: An unnamed narrator provides the video’s commentary; no other speakers are heard in the subtitles.
• Historical sources and references: Ancient artifacts and cave drawings; the Greek gynecologist Soranus; Casanova’s 18th-century memoirs; the FDA’s 1960 approval of the pill; and a 2013 report on contraceptive access.