Is an oral contraceptive the right choice for you? An expert explains who “the pill” is best suited for, weighing out the benefits and risk factors. The 20th century saw humanity develop in leaps and bounds, and without a doubt one of the most revoultionary advances was oral contraceptives , more commonly known as “the pill”. Until the 1980s, the majority of women had extremely limited and ineffective options when it came to contraceptives.
Many left a great deal to chance, using methods such as prolonging lactation after pregnancy or fertility awareness, which involves avoiding intercourse at certain times of the month or monitoring cervical mucus and body temperature. Other methods – such as condoms or interrupted coitus (also known as “pulling out”) – gave women little control, but the pill allowed them to freely choose not to get pregnant. A question of hormones.
