Reproduction and revolution: money, medicine, and the Pill HI268 Week 3

Pathway to the Pill Laying the groundwork Comstock Laws Physiological research (often re infertility, impotence) Women’s movements/enfranchisement of women (expanded role of women in the public sphere, esp. in relation to women’s and children’s health) ‘scientific motherhood’ Show me the money Who pays, wins: Katherine McCormick and Margaret Sanger ‘Fathering’ the Pill? Gregory Pincus, John Rock, Carl Djerassi

Pathway to the Pill Clinical trials Who? Infertile (often middle class) women in Boston Poor and ‘excessively fertile’ women in Puerto Rico, India How? Tablets every day, every 6-8 hours or injections or suppositories; body temp readings every day; vaginal smears every day; chart maintenance; urine samples over 2 specific 48 hour periods (so confined to home those days); endometrial biopsies every month (and in some cases laparotomies)

Pathways to the Pill Why? Fears over population explosion Individuals’ desires to control family size, invest more resources into fewer children Eugenic drives to reduce birth rates of the poor and of ‘poor genetic stock’

Religion, Sex, Drugs and Science Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies.

A quick note on chemistry How does the Pill work to prevent pregnancy? –Primary mechanisms Inhibits ovulation –Secondary mechanisms Thickening of cervical mucus Possible – but NOT proven -- endometrial effects

So: questions to think about Are reproductive technologies liberating their users, or not? Do the NRTs widen or narrow our understandings of family and kinship?