Home · Health · Reproductive Issues · The Birth Control Pill
Topic spans: 1960 - 2001
The Birth Control Pill
One tablet, once a day: that routine is followed by as many as 80 million women worldwide to prevent pregnancy. The birth control pill, simply known as the pill, was the first drug to be approved for healthy women. When it first came on the Canadian market in the 1960s, feminists hailed it as a medical breakthrough while the Pope condemned its use as immoral. The pill would be one of the most significant developments of the 20th century.
Photo of oral contraceptives, from Wikipedia, released into public domain.
12 television clips
1 radio clips
The pill meant women could
Broadcast Date: Oct. 11, 1964
"I think they're marvelous," one woman on the street tells a CBC reporter when asked about the pill. "Do you think the pill may tend to make women more promiscuous?" The reporter asks. "Not anymore than they are," says another. "You can practice love more freely," says another. The live television audience giggles in response to young women confidently speaking out about the pill and their sexuality.The pill meant women could
• This report from the CBC's This Hour Has Seven Days pointed out that the pill had sparked a social revolution. In 1964, it was still considered immodest for women to be prepared for sex. The pill was the first method of contraceptive that didn't have to be used during intercourse. Women could take the pill without admitting they were sexually active.• Beyond the sexual implications, the pill gave women greater options, like the freedom to choose a career aside from motherhood.
• Many viewers were shocked by the This Hour Has Seven Days report on the pill. The television program was inundated with angry mail saying the show was "disgusting," "vulgar" and "pure filth."
• The pill was enormously popular in Canada. In its first year on the market, 10,000 women were taking the pill. That number grew to 750,000 in five years.
• In 1993, The Economist magazine named the pill as "one of the seven wonders of the modern world."
• According to a 1995 study published in the Journal of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, 84 per cent of Canadian women use or have used the pill.
The pill meant women could
Medium: Television
Program: This Hour has Seven Days
Broadcast Date: Oct. 11, 1964
Duration: 2:09
Last updated:
Aug. 27, 2009
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13 clips in this topic . page
Television
5:29
Oct. 28, 1971
In a combative TV interview, the famous feminist defends some of the ideas in her best-selling book The Female Eunuch.
Radio
18:13
In 1975, Quirks & Quarks talks to Carl Djerassi, one of the inventors of the birth control pill.
The pill meant women could .
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: Aug. 27, 2009.
[Page consulted on Feb. 16, 2012.]