Let's go back to when Mike Wallace "interviewed" one Margaret Sanger and she stood strong while he attacked all of her notions about women and their potential use of birth control. What Margaret Sanger wanted was for women to be in control of their bodies. Reproduction should not be compulsory, but manageable and safe. Women were barely recovered from one pregnancy only to find themselves pregnant again. When she promoted the diaphragm, she wanted women to take their bodies into their own hands, and in doing so, create a space where both men and women could acknowledge each other's autonomy.
How far have we come? As we celebrate 50 years on the birth control pill, have Margaret Sanger's dreams been realized? 100 million women worldwide use the birth control pill, which must mean that we have taken the reigns on our reproductive rights. Instead, what I argue, is that the pill, rather than reproduction, has become compulsory. Consider the recent controversy with Yaz marketing that ended in lawsuits. Rather than promoting a way to control and regulate pregnancy, Yaz aimed at targeting symptoms of PMDD-- and drew in an entirely different birth control crowd. But this kind of marketing was not unique, young women-- younger and younger it seems, hit adolescence thinking that birth control is just something you do. I remember hitting my Senior year of high school and feeling the weight of my entire friend group proclaiming that it was just "time to go on the pill." Were we sexually active or ready to be sexually active? For some of us, sure. For others, not by a long shot. The protocol of adolescence has evolved from pimples and pads to include the pill.
Now that I am a senior in college, I have made the choice to go on the pill. I have already sought and utilized alternate forms of contraception, but in speaking with my gynecologist and doing research on my own, I've decided that this is the best route for me. After my rant above, I would assume some people will think my choice is hypocritical. But the point is, it was a choice, it was thought out, and it wasn't something I assumed came with growing up. As girls younger and younger grow up thinking that birth control is as normal and natural as drinking water, we diverge from Margaret Sanger's mission to move away from compulsory pregnancy to compulsory birth control. What is the better end?
We need to revisit the way that birth control is marketed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing to take the pill. However, the minute it shades from choice to mandate, is dangerous. Let us make it clear that it is a choice that requires discourse, evaluation, and much understanding on part of the prescriber and the prescribed to. Lets start a birth control revolution, demanding concise and blatant marketing that doesn't attempt to lure in women younger and younger in order to boost their skyrocketing profits. Lets get back to basics, and make the shift back to a decision making process that never leaves the hands of a woman to enter the hands of corporation. Let's celebrate 50 years on the pill in a way that would make Margaret Sanger beaming with pride and accomplishment.
