The Pill

By the middle of the twentieth century, mortality rates were low (due to antibiotics and antiseptics) and women no longer needed a multitude of children to ensure that some reached maturity.  Now, ways to limit family size were sought after, and in 1960, an answer was found in the norethindrone molecule, the first oral contraceptive, usually known as "the pill."  Whether or not this molecule had a positive effect or just the opposite is a matter of opinion, but it has no doubt played a major role in shaping contemporary society.  It has been both credited with and blamed for the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the women's liberation movement, the rise of feminism, the increased percentage of women in the workplace, and even the breakdown of the family.  Earlier in the century, other contraceptive methods had been in use but, the idea of birth control was not widely accepted due to issues of morality, family values, possible health problems, and long-term effects among other reasons.  By the 1930s, birth control had been given the more acceptable term family planning, yet even by the time "the pill" had been introduced, there was much debate over the subject, that still continues to this day.

The norethindrone in the pill is a steroid, meant to mimic the pregnancy hormone progesterone.  A steroid is a compound that has three six carbon rings and one five carbon ring fused together. What makes steroids different from one another are their side groups and the locations of their double bonds.  The male sex hormones (androgens), female sex hormones (estrogens), and pregnancy hormones (progestins) are all steroids and are produced naturally in the body.  The idea behind birth control is to give the body artificial pregnancy hormones so that it will stop producing its own.  The artificial hormone has a slichtly different chemical structure than progesterone, so it will not carry out its basic functions, thereby suppressing ovulation.  When first developed, the norethindrone pill was tested in Peurto Rico, where families had grown too large to sustain themselves, and where there was no shortage of volunteers for the trials.  First administered in 10-milligram doses, it was soon reduced to 5-milligram, and later less than 2-milligram doses.  The morality issue of these the Peurto Rican tests, and of birth control itself, still remain controversial to this day, but the pill has no doubt impacted today's society.  Now that women have control over their own bodies, they have expanded their horizons to equal those of men.