Of all the medical advances in the twentieth century, the birth control pill has probably had the most influence on American culture. Until the 1960s, many young women found themselves looking after children when what they really wanted was a career outside the home. By enabling them to choose the number and the timing of their children, the Pill—as it was popularly known—gave women the chance to take control of their lives. In the 1960s, the Pill was partly responsible for what became known as the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). Before AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) came along, the Pill allowed women and men to be sexually active with only a small risk of unwanted pregnancy.

Social activist Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) argued for better birth control methods in the late nineteenth...