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The History of Contraception

The understanding of how a woman becomes pregnant does not seem to have truly begun until sometime in the sixteen hundreds when the microscope was discovered and so the sperm was seen for the first time. Once seen it was begun to be understood. Yet, women had been using various methods of contraception from the beginning of time. They did not necessarily understand what they were doing or why, but they tried various alternatives to prevent them from becoming pregnant because pregnancy and delivery were at least as dangerous as the herbs and solutions that were used. Hundreds of years ago it was not common for a woman to die from complications in childbirth or immediately after. So, when women were given medicines, lotions, or devices to try they did so with relief. For not only was childbirth a potential danger, but so was having twenty children in a lifetime. The choices a woman had were not always good ones; nonetheless they were the only options open to them.

Early methods of birth control included herbal remedies, abstention, using the withdrawal method or barrier devices. In the days of the early Egyptians the women used a vaginal suppository called a pessary. It was believed to be made from the manure of crocodiles and then mixed with either honey or oil. This lubricated the concoction and made it easier to use. Women from the Asian countries had a different early method of contraception. They used oiled paper to serve as a cervical cap while women in Europe used beeswax for the same purpose. Research has show historians that as far back as the second century women were practicing birth control. At those times the things they used were more like poisons than medicines, but nonetheless they seemed to work. They caused damage by poisoning the woman, though only slightly, and so caused a miscarriage. Women were advised to use a variety of methods. They used poisons like arsenic and mercury to prevent pregnancy. Pennyroyal and tansy were two of the herbs commonly used. All of these were some sort of poison that caused miscarriages. The water used to cool the swords, horseshoes and other items made by blacksmiths was believed to be a useful contraceptive. Women were advised to drink it.

Oddly enough the more knowledgeable people who attempted to find some means of birth control were not to be found amongst the Christian Europeans. To them practicing any method of contraception was wrong. This practice is blamed for some of the early witch hunts that occurred as religious Christians demanded the removal of this evil, unholy practice.

As time went on and it became understood that it was the man's sperm that caused pregnancy the first condoms were invented. These were made of animal intestine. Men liked them even less then than they do now, and they only worked sometimes, but they were protection from sexually transmitted diseases, particularly syphilis which was very common and deadly before the discovery of antibiotics.