Monday, 10 May 2010

Contraceptive pill turns 50


The tiny pill that changed the course of women's rights, and human sexuality, marks 50 years on tomorrow.


An oral contraceptive pill was first introduced to the US market on May 11, 1960, and it arrived in the UK nine months later.


It would become the first widely-used and socially acceptable method by which a woman could control her own fertility.


It is estimated about 100 million women worldwide now use an oral contraceptive pill, which contains a combination of hormones that interrupt their natural cycle of fertility.


When taken properly, the pill has a 99 per cent success rate making it the most effective and reversible form of birth control.


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