Birth control in 1940s

There were condoms. They've been around for ages.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

There were condoms, spermacides and cervical caps (exact name of which I forget). All those were still available when the pill and IUD became available. ETA: For me, this isn't history. My parents used those things.

Not to mention abstinence.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

There would have been several common methods, as well as many so-so herbal ones. (so-so because some were/are more effective than others)

Planned Parenthood has actually put together an easy to read paper on historical contraceptives. You might want to check it out.

I'm bookmarking it myself!

Just to keep things clear: while IUDs in some form have been around since the early 1900's, the pill didn't come out until 1963

The spermacide Ardurol (sp).

In 1940, my good Catholic folks used the rhythm method. Didn't work.

Chase, born June 23, 1941

I think the most common form of contraception at that time, at least in the US, was the diaphragm.

You might get Andrea Tone's book Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America. I haven't read it, but it sounds like it might be a good resource.

Lil said:

I think the most common form of contraception at that time, at least in the US, was the diaphragm.

Click to expand...

Where you were could make all the difference. 'French Letters' (condoms) were pretty common over here

Nekko said:

There would have been several common methods, as well as many so-so herbal ones. (so-so because some were/are more effective than others)

Planned Parenthood has actually put together an easy to read paper on historical contraceptives. You might want to check it out.

I'm bookmarking it myself!

Just to keep things clear: while IUDs in some form have been around since the early 1900's, the pill didn't come out until 1963

Click to expand...

Very interesting article. Saved for future references...

Thank you

Here ya go

kelliewallace said:

I've done a bit of research on it and found some women used Lysol. Was there any other forms of contraception during the 40s?

Click to expand...

Tripped over this article - actually very interesting first-person experience information: http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2012/04/18/how-i-had-sex-in-1950/chronicles/who-we-were/

I know it's been a while since kelliewallace first made this thread, but since it's resurfaced...

Lil said:

I think the most common form of contraception at that time, at least in the US, was the diaphragm.

Click to expand...

The idea of blocking the cervix to prevent pregnancy is thousands of years old. Various cultures have used cervix-shaped devices such as oiled paper cones or lemon halves, or have made sticky mixtures that include honey or cedar rosin to be applied to the cervical opening.[33] However, the diaphragm—which stays in place because of the spring in its rim, rather than hooking over the cervix or being sticky—is of much more recent origin. (late 1880s it seems)

Diaphragms played a role in overturning the federal Comstock Act (in America).This act prohibited sending contraceptive devices, or information about contraception, through the mail. In 1932, American birth control activist Margaret Sanger arranged for a Japanese manufacturer to mail a package of diaphragms to a New York physician who supported Sanger's activism. U.S. customs confiscated the package, and Sanger helped file a lawsuit. In 1936, in the court case United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, a federal appellate court ruled that the package could be delivered.[33]

Although in Europe, the cervical cap was more popular than the diaphragm, the diaphragm became one of the most widely used contraceptives in the United States. In 1940, one-third of all U.S. married couples used a diaphragm for contraception.

It would be fun to weave the Comstock act into a storyline

Here are some links about contraception in the good old days:

http://www.case.edu/affil/skuyhistcontraception/online-2012/Cervical-Caps-Diaphragms.html

http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/a-brief-history-of-birth-control/

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52188



They had diaphragms, condoms and spermicides in the 1940s, but they also had some really ineffective stuff going on, and yes, Lysol was one of them. Plus, there were the Comstock laws and others, which made contraception illegal in some locales. In fact, when my parents moved to Boston in the early 1960s, contraception was illegal there, and the only health care provider my mom could find to provide her with a diaphragm was Planned Parenthood.

Birth control was not nearly as reliable as it is today, but still, the birth rate fell by half in the early part of the 20th century.

From Wikipedia Laboratory testing of substances to see if they inhibited sperm motility began in the 1800s. Modern spermicides nonoxynol-9 and menfegol were developed from this line of research.[29] However, many other substances of dubious contraceptive value were also promoted. Especially after the prohibition of contraception in the U.S. by the 1873 Comstock Act, spermicides—the most popular of which was Lysol—were marketed only as "feminine hygiene" products and were not held to any standard of effectiveness. Worse, many manufacturers recommended using the products as a douche after intercourse, too late to affect all the sperm. Medical estimates during the 1930s placed the pregnancy rate of women using many over-the-counter spermicides at seventy percent per year.[31]

Click to expand...

Nekko said:

The idea of blocking the cervix to prevent pregnancy is thousands of years old. Various cultures have used...

Click to expand...

Crocodile dung pessaries, and bits of wood

I kid you not.