Ever wondered what the first birth control pill was actually called? It’s one of those trivia questions that sounds simple until you realize how much drama was packed into its arrival. Basically, it was Enovid.
In May 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did something pretty wild. They approved a tiny, circular tablet that would change... well, everything. For the first time in history, a person could swallow a pill to stop a biological process—ovulation—rather than to cure a disease. It wasn't just medicine. It was a cultural earthquake.
The Secret Life of Enovid Before 1960
Kinda funny thing about Enovid: it was actually available for years before it became "The Pill."
The pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co. originally got FDA approval for Enovid back in 1957. But at that time, it wasn't marketed for birth control. That would have been too scandalous. Instead, it was sold as a treatment for "menstrual disorders." If you had severe cramps or an irregular cycle, your doctor could give you Enovid.
Everyone knew what was actually happening, though.
The "side effect" of the drug was that you didn't get pregnant. By 1959, over half a million women were suddenly visiting their doctors with "menstrual problems." Honestly, it’s one of the biggest "wink-wink" moments in medical history. Women knew what it was. Doctors knew what it was. But the paperwork had to say one thing while the reality was another.
Who Actually Built This Thing?
The story of Enovid isn't just about a lab in a basement. It was a weird, desperate, and brilliant collaboration between four very different people.
- Margaret Sanger: The activist. She had been dreaming of a "magic pill" for decades. She was 80 years old by the time it finally hit the market.
- Katharine McCormick: The money. She was a biologist and an heiress to the International Harvester fortune. She basically single-handedly funded the research when no one else would touch it.
- Gregory Pincus: The scientist. A brilliant biologist who had been pushed out of Harvard because his work on "test-tube" rabbits freaked people out.
- John Rock: The doctor. He was a devout Catholic OB-GYN. He believed that the pill was a "natural" form of birth control because it used hormones already found in the body.
They were an unlikely squad.
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McCormick would literally mail Pincus checks for tens of thousands of dollars to keep the research going. In today’s world, that kind of funding would be handled by massive VC firms or government grants. Back then? It was a wealthy woman in her 70s determined to give women control over their bodies.
What Was Actually in the First Pill?
The original Enovid was a beast.
It was a combination of two synthetic hormones: mestranol (an estrogen) and norethynodrel (a progestin). Modern pills are like precision instruments. Enovid 10mg—the first version—was more like a sledgehammer.
It contained massive doses compared to what we use today. To give you some perspective, the original pill had about ten times the amount of progestin and five times the amount of estrogen found in most modern formulations.
Because the dose was so high, the side effects were pretty intense. We’re talking:
- Extreme nausea (like morning sickness).
- Significant weight gain.
- Bloating that made clothes not fit.
- Mood swings.
But for the women in 1960, these were often seen as a small price to pay. For the first time, you didn't have to fumble with a diaphragm or hope a condom didn't break. You just took a pill with your morning coffee.
The Controversy That Nearly Stopped It
It’s hard to imagine now, but the FDA was terrified of approving Enovid for birth control.
The reviewer at the FDA, a guy named Pasquale DeFelice, was incredibly skeptical. His concern wasn't just about safety; it was about the philosophy of medicine. He argued that doctors should treat the sick. If a woman is healthy, why is she taking a powerful hormone every day?
There was also the religious pushback.
John Rock, the Catholic doctor on the team, spent years trying to convince the Church that the pill was just an extension of the "rhythm method." He argued that since the hormones in Enovid merely mimicked a natural pregnancy state to stop ovulation, it wasn't "artificial." He lost that battle, but his advocacy helped millions of Catholic women feel okay about using it.
The Danger Nobody Saw Coming
Because the hormone levels in Enovid were so high, it didn't take long for serious problems to surface.
By the mid-60s, reports of blood clots and strokes started piling up. The pharmaceutical companies tried to downplay it. They said there was no proof. But the evidence grew.
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This eventually led to the 1970 Nelson Pill Hearings. Women were so fed up with being ignored by male doctors and senators that they actually disrupted the hearings. They demanded to know why they weren't being told about the risks.
The result of that anger? The "Patient Package Insert." You know that giant, folded-up piece of paper with tiny text that comes with every prescription? You can thank the early users of Enovid for that. They fought for the right to know what they were putting in their bodies.
Enovid’s Legacy Today
Enovid isn't around anymore. It was discontinued in the late 1980s as newer, lower-dose pills took over the market.
But it changed the structure of society. When Enovid became legal, the number of women entering law school and medical school skyrocketed. It allowed people to plan their careers and their lives with a level of certainty that simply didn't exist before 1960.
So, what should you take away from all this?
First, know that the "perfect" medicine usually starts out pretty messy. Enovid was high-dose and risky, but it was the necessary first step. Second, the history of medicine is often driven by people who are willing to break the rules—like McCormick and Sanger.
If you’re interested in the history of your own health, here are a few things you can do:
- Check your current prescription: Look at the hormone levels and compare them to the "10mg" monster that was Enovid. You'll probably be shocked at how much lower your dose is.
- Research the "Nelson Pill Hearings": It’s a fascinating look at how patient advocacy was born.
- Talk to the older women in your life: Ask them if they remember when the Pill first came out. Their stories about navigating doctors in the 60s are usually eye-opening.
The name Enovid might be a footnote in medical textbooks now, but for a generation of women, it was the name of their freedom.
Next Steps for You
If you want to understand more about how these hormones work in your body today, I can help you break down the differences between "combination" and "progestin-only" pills, or we can look into the specific history of how the FDA changed its safety protocols after the 1960s.