"The Pill" Film & Discussion

Question 1

Margaret Sanger

Answer 1

Strong advocate for birth control pill. She argued against Comstock laws. Believed birth control was the key to women’s liberation. Imperfect figure, eugenicist.

Question 2

Comstock Laws

Answer 2

Statutes that criminalized the sale of contraceptive devices and the dissemination of birth control information. Also made talking about contraceptives a crime.

Question 3

Gregory Pincus

Answer 3

Harvard scientist who put hormone theory to the test, demonstrated that progesterone stopped ovulation. Faced opposition from Harvard and those who viewed him as a “mad scientist”.

Question 4

John Rock

Answer 4

Catholic physician and infertility specialist from Harvard who agreed to hold clinical trials testing the pill on a group of 50 women. Wrote the book The Time Has Come.

Question 5

Katherine McCormick

Answer 5

Provided the money for Pincus to conduct his research. Felt that birth control was part of the liberation of women. She got a science degree from MIT.

Question 6

Searle

Answer 6

First pharmaceutical company to market the birth control pill

Question 7

Enovid

Answer 7

Marketed as treatment for “menstrual disorders”, but in reality it was the birth control pill

Question 8

Pill Side Effects

Answer 8

Nausea, dizziness, vomiting, stomach pain, death, and stroke

Question 9

“MRS Degree”

Answer 9

Women often got engaged/married in college during this time period. Once married, women’s role was limited as she was confined to the household. W/o contraceptives, women were having children for 3 decades straight

Question 10

Contraceptives

Answer 10

Method/device to prevent pregnancy

Question 11

Vaginal hysterectomy

Answer 11

Surgery to remove uterus and cervix

Question 12

FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

Answer 12

Serves to protect public health by regulating the approval of food, drugs, and other products for consumer use

Question 13

Why was the Catholic Church so against contraceptives, specifically the pill?

Answer 13

They believed that the pill was not a natural birth control. But at a more deeper level, they believed that the pill would open up a “sexual anarchy”, where more women would engage in sexual conduct knowing that they wouldn’t get pregnant.

Question 14

Pros of the Pill

Answer 14

• Some believed the pill to be part of and the catalyst for the liberation and equality for women
• Gave women the choice to decide how many children they wanted and could even delay having children to complete their education

Question 15

Cons of the Pill

Answer 15

• Pushed upon women of color (especially Black Americans), they perceived it as a method of eugenics and sterilization
• Majority of research was done on Puerto Rican women –> history of medical research on marginalized women
• Earlier prototypes of the pill resulted in adverse health outcomes (ie nausea, dizziness, death, stroke, etc)

Question 16

How did the invention of the pill benefit women in the long run?

Answer 16

The pill did more to women’s equality than anything else. Women saw themselves as self-sustaining units for the first time. They could control their destiny over their future economically, socially, politically, physically, etc. It also led to the Women’s Health Movement