The invention of the Pill is one of the most important in human history, allowing people to control the all-important decision of when to have a child. The history of the Pill has been largely a story of women pushing for reproductive freedom and society resisting change. Women funded the development by a handful of entrepreneurs with limited resources. When it was shown to work, the big pharmaceutical companies refused to sell it, and when it finally reached the market, it was first sold as a remedy for menstrual irregularity (small print mentioned a side effect of preventing conception).
[Why Is Birth Control Pill Still Only Available By Prescription?]
Even today access to the Pill is restricted by unnecessary bureaucracy and politics, despite the fact that the US physician associations widely endorse selling the Pill over-the-counter (OTC). A study by the University of California (UCSF) found that 52% of current Pill users would switch to an over-the-counter birth control pill if available. And about a third of women using no method or a less effective method would likely start using an OTC Pill. Now, 58 years after the FDA approved the first Pill, a small startup is working to take the Pill OTC. It’s 2015 — time to fix things that don’t make sense. (Follow the movement www.facebook.com/liberatethepill).
