Birth Control Pill Creates Two Legacies

Written By: Cheryl Wetzstein  |  Posted: Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

It's quite ironic that the anniversary of the birth control pill, which prevents motherhood, falls around Mother's Day.
Of course, the Pill is typically seen as mother's little helper - it got plenty of accolades this month as it reached its 50th anniversary as a federally approved product.
One angle, though, seems to have gotten short shrift, so let me raise it. One of the unintended consequences of the Pill is that it changed the relationship between men and women in a way that did not benefit women: Both unplanned pregnancies and unwed childbearing remain common, despite the Pill.
In researching the 50-year history of the birth control pill, I saw that it achieved many of its desired consequences: It was (and is) highly effective, easy to use, and safe for most women. Unlike sterilization (the second most common form of birth control), the Pill preserves fertility, even if used for years. And since a woman can take it without the knowledge of her husband or lover, it gives her virtually solo control over her ability to become pregnant.
A rollicking 1975 song by country star Loretta Lynn captured feminine exhilaration about the Pill: Marriage may have once trapped her on "Nursery Hill, " but "I'm tearin' down your brooder house, 'cause now I've got the Pill!" she crowed.
Liberating women from the nursery - and even the house - was certainly an effect of the Pill, but, as with everything else in life, when women change their behavior, men do, too. And that is where the unexpected consequences came in.
"The main impact of the Pill and the sexual revolution that followed was