Birth Control Methods

Having sex is about making choices. Where better to start off then by choosing the right birth control? Choosing birth control should not be a hard process but there are a few things to look at. The history, all the different methods, risks or side effects, and the effectiveness of each method. A great set back in life could be a unintended pregnancy, so why not protect yourself from living out the life you want.

The earliest written record of suggested means of preventing conception was found in an Egyptian papyrus dating from 1550 B.C. (Birth Control 262). In 384 to 322 B.C. Aristotle proposes using natural chemicals such as cedar oil, lead ointment, or frankincense oil as spermicides (Women's Health Week Editors). Quite a while later, around 1660, King Charles II's physician develops a sheath of oiled sheep's intestine to be used as a condom. About 200 years later German doctor Friedrich Wilde developed an early cervical cap in 1838.

Birth control pill

HIV Testing AD2

Image of vaginal birth control device NuvaRing

Then a few years later in 1860 Goodyear's vulcanized rubber condoms hit the market. Twenty years later German Dr. Wilhelm Mensinga invents the diaphragm (Women's Health Week Editors).

Birth control was a fast growing frenzy in many parts of the world, but also much argument was brought up about preventing pregnancy. In the United States Margaret Sanger began in 1912 her crusade against restrictive birth control laws by publicly encouraging women to practice contraception. In 1916 she opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in Brooklyn, N.Y., an act for which she was jailed. Then in 1921 Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, a forerunner of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, established in 1942 (Birth Control). In the 1950's the first human trials of the pill began (Women's Health Week Editors). The development of the...