Happy Birthday Pill!

On May 9, 1960, the FDA approved the birth control pill. The pill has not done nearly what people predicted it would do. It hasn't eradicated overpopulation. It hasn't done away with unwanted pregnancies. In fact, here's a frightening thought for all you out there. Fifty percent of today's pregnancies are still unplanned.

However, the number of unplanned pregnancies prevented by the pill cannot be measured. Still, 45 years after it came on the market, there are still controversies that surround the pill. Pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions to the pill because it goes against their morals and religious views. One pharmacist in Wisconsin even refused to give the woman her prescription back or transfer it to another pharmacy. Good thing condoms are over the counter.

It was bound to happen eventually. The market was clamoring for a better contraceptive. Within the first two years after the pill was released, more than 1.2 million women had a prescription for it. Eight years after it's release, there were more than 12 million women on the pill. Today it's estimated that more than 80 percent of all women have been on or are on the pill in their life. That's a lot of pills.

On another note, a co-worker of mine asked another co-worker if we, in Nashville, were North or South of Birmingham, Al. Apparently knowledge of geography was not a requirement for the job.



Quiz: Is Alabama North or South of Tennessee?