BIRTH CONTROL - BODIES AT RISK
The road to healthy family planning is paved with problematic research. Look below to find out more.
PLEASE NOTE: Images and descriptions displayed in this museum may be disturbing for some viewers.
Discretion advised.
AMERICA’S FIRST BIRTH CONTROL PILL
Birthed at the time of a sexual revolution, the birth control pill is one of the most popular forms of female contraceptive widely used by American women today. However, though highly beneficial to its users today, its original experimental uses on a Latina population had an all but positive result.
[image: Case Western Reserve University, 1960. Early prescription bottle of the birth control pill, Enovid.]
DOES BRAND MATTER? THE AIR INFLATION TEST ANSWERS
In the 1980s, a Consumer Reports tested condoms for their effectiveness one the particular methods used was the Air Inflation Test, which inflated condoms with air until they burst.
[Image: Consumer Report, 1989. Article asking "Can You Rely on Condoms"]
¿ESTOY EMBARAZADA? BIRTH CONTROL OR PLACEBO
The San Antonio Pill Study was a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover experiment conducted in 1971 to investigate the side effects of oral contraceptives. The oral contraceptives used in the study were packaged in 28-day color coded strips in order to make the drugs and placebo pills appear as if they were identical.
[Image: “Most ‘Pill’ Side Effects Coincidental.” Progress, Jun. 1971. Magnified view of oral contraceptive tablet on a finger and two tablets on a May calendar sheet of paper.]
DEPO PROVERA: A CONTRACEPTIVE INJECTION THAT DID MORE THEN PREVENT PREGNANCY
Depo Provera did not begin as a contraceptive, but the company who created it sought to make it one. The Upjohn company created a drug that inflicted serious injuries on the women who used it as a contraceptive.
[image: VeryWell/Emily Roberts, 2019. Chart showing common side effects of Depo-Provera.]
WORCESTER STATE HOSPITAL'S BIRTH CONTROL PILL TRIALS
The common birth control pill that so many people rely on today has a history that is usually swept under the rug. Marginalized populations became the test subjects of the world’s first birth control pill.
[Image: Telegram & Gazette. Photo of Gregory Pincus speaking to Hudson Hoagland in front of Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology]
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