A review by caitlin21521
The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution by Jonathan Eig
4.0
This was really a very interesting read. It is less about the women who were involved in the early trials for the Pill than it is about the four individuals who spearheaded the research and funding for the Pill: Margaret Sanger (the crusader), Katharine McCormick (the millionaire activist), John Rock (the Catholic doctor), and Gregory Pincus (the scientist). The hoops they had to jump through with first the drug companies, then Planned Parenthood who began pulling away from Sanger and losing interest in funding the projects, then later, the Catholic Church and the FDA are tremendous.
Some notes:
- I really found Katharine McCormick a very interesting woman, and her backstory is well worth looking into.
- Pincus, after finally accomplishing the initial project, continued to research ways to improve upon the original formula, and also had ideas for creating what he called "the Next Morning Pill", which was later accomplished in the 80s by the French scientist he'd been discussing the idea with.
- The Worcester Foundation, where Pincus did most of his research and work, continued to operate into the 70s, and was involved in the early research that led to the development of Tamoxifen.
- The original Pill (Enovid) came in a bottle and women frequently forgot to take them regularly. One flustered husband came up with a method to help his wife keep track of the pills and dates, and came up with an invention of a pill pack that he submitted to the drug companies who were developing and marketing their own pills. He had to sue them for royalties because they used his design ideas but rejected his original application.
Some notes:
- I really found Katharine McCormick a very interesting woman, and her backstory is well worth looking into.
- Pincus, after finally accomplishing the initial project, continued to research ways to improve upon the original formula, and also had ideas for creating what he called "the Next Morning Pill", which was later accomplished in the 80s by the French scientist he'd been discussing the idea with.
- The Worcester Foundation, where Pincus did most of his research and work, continued to operate into the 70s, and was involved in the early research that led to the development of Tamoxifen.
- The original Pill (Enovid) came in a bottle and women frequently forgot to take them regularly. One flustered husband came up with a method to help his wife keep track of the pills and dates, and came up with an invention of a pill pack that he submitted to the drug companies who were developing and marketing their own pills. He had to sue them for royalties because they used his design ideas but rejected his original application.