 Helpful Resources!
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"The report by a team of researchers in Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma found 27 percent of those reporting concerns about the procedure were worried about pain. Just 5 percent were worried about the finality of getting a vasectomy. Other concerns mentioned by a minority of patients included fear of the surgery itself, fear of complications, and fear of being "cut on." When asked if they were sure they were making the right decision, however, 85 percent put their certainty at eight or higher, on a 10-point scale."
--ABC News.Com / Few Worries About Vasectomy (3/12/2003)
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Moments In
Childfree History Timeline
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1850bc
- The Kahun Papyrus, refers to the earliest mention of birth control; a concoction of crocodile dung and fermented dough inserted in the vagina.
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1550bc
- According to an ancient medical manuscript called the Ebers Papyrus, women were advised to grind together dates, acacia (a tree bark), and a touch of honey into a moist paste, dip seed wool into the sweet gel and place it in the vulva. As primitive as this sugary mix appears, it was usually effective. Acacia eventually ferments into lactic acid, a well known spermicide.
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1000bc
- It is known that around 1000 BC the ancient Egyptians used a linen sheath for protection against disease.
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200
- Pessaries made their appearance in the second century. They were made of many different substances including elephant and crocodile dung.
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1500
- In Italy, Gabrielle Fallopius claimed to have invented a sheath made of linen, and conducted trials amongst 1,100 men using the condom, none of whom became infected with Syphilis. It was only later on that condoms were used for preventing pregnancy.
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1844
- Condoms were first mass produced by Goodyear and Hancock. They used vulcanised rubber which turns crude rubber into a strong elastic material.
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1779
- British economist and clergyman Thomas Malthus published figures that were to become the cornerstone of the population-control movement. Malthus maintained that world population would rapidly outpace the earth’s capacity for food production unless ‘preventive checks’ were put in place.
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1861
- The first advertisement for condoms was published in an American newspaper when The New York Times printed an ad for "Dr. Power's French Preventatives."
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1873
- The Comstock Law was passed. Named after Anthony Comstock, the Comstock Law made illegal the advertising of any sort of birth control, and it also allowed the postal service to confiscate condoms sold through the mail.
1877
- Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh of England were tried for selling The Fruits of Philosophy, a pamphlet on contraceptive methods, written in 1832 by an American, Charles Knowlton.
1878
- The first birth control clinic was founded in Amsterdam by Aletta Jacobs.
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1884
- Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) was born in Krakow, Poland on April 7, 1884. Author of The Sexual Life of Savages.
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1901
- Margaret Mead was born the oldest of four children on December 16, 1901, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Author of Coming of Age in Samoa.
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1914
- The phrase "birth control" first appeared in Margaret Sanger's (1879-1966) magazine, Woman Rebel, which bore the slogan "No Gods; No Masters!" on its masthead.
1916
- Planned Parenthood is founded.
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1930
- Sweden was one of the first countries to provide government assistance for birth control, which it did as early as the 1930s.
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1940
- Condoms made of sheep's intestines were still available. They were washed, slathered in petroleum jelly, and kept in little wooden boxes for the next use.
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1952
- The International Planned Parenthood Federation is founded.
1953
- French critic and novelist Simone de Beauvoir publishes The Second Sex.
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1960
- The Federal Government approves the world's first commercially produced birth-control pill, commonly called The Pill, which was invented by Carl Djerassi.
1963
- Betty Friedan's, The Feminine Mystique is published.
1965
- The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the one remaining state law (in Connecticut) prohibiting the use of contraceptives.
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1988
- RU-486 invented.
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1998
- Viagra invented.
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