Sexual Revolution

By AmanGupta04

  • First Use of the Term 'Birth Control'

    First Use of the Term 'Birth Control'
    Nurse Margaret Sanger believed that “enforced motherhood is the most complete denial of a woman’s right to life and liberty." After she coined the term birth control, she started a decades-long campaign to legalize birth control and make it accessible for everyone

  • First Birth Control Clinic Opened

    First Birth Control Clinic Opened
    Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York but was arrested one year later on charges of "maintaining a public nuisance." After being released from jail, she re-opened her clinic and continued to be hinder by arrests and prosecutions.

  • Planned Parenthood Federation of America is Created

    Planned Parenthood Federation of America is Created
    In 1939, many national organizations that advocate for birth control join together to form the Birth Control Federation of America and then they changed the name to Planned Parenthood in 1942.

  • Development of the Birth Control Pill Begins

    Development of the Birth Control Pill Begins
    John Rock and Gregory Pincus start to develop the first birth control pill which was funded by the 2 million dollars that Katherine Dexter McCormick donated. The US had very strict laws in contraceptive research so they set up trials in psychiatric hospitals and on women in Puerto Rico

  • First Oral Contraceptive Approved by FDA

    First Oral Contraceptive Approved by FDA
    Enovid is a mix of the hormones progesterone and estrogen that was approved by the FDA as birth control. It became known as "The Pill"

  • Birth Control Approved for Married Couples

    Birth Control Approved for Married Couples
    In the Supreme Court ruling of Griswold v. Connecticut, it was ruled that married couples have a constitutional right to privacy which means they have access to birth control but unmarried women were still denied birth control.

  • Birth Control Legalized for Unmarried People

    Birth Control Legalized for Unmarried People
    The Supreme Court ruling in Eisenstadt v Baird legalized birth control for unmarried people which was arguably one of the largest events in the Sexual Revolution

  • Roe vs. Wade

    Roe vs. Wade
    Roe v Wade was the Supreme Court ruling which stated that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without government restriction. It removed many US laws at both the federal and state level on abortion.

  • FDA Approves Emergency Post-Intercourse Contraception

    FDA Approves Emergency Post-Intercourse Contraception
    FDA approves Preven and Plan B as emergency contraception that can be used post-intercourse to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse.

  • Affordable Care Act

    Affordable Care Act
    Congress passed the Affordable Care Act which prohibited sex discrimination in health insurance and required all preventive health care to be covered without a copay. The Obama administration issued regulations that expanded the meaning of preventive health care to include coverage of all FDA-approved contraception.