Here's a quick little history lesson starring a woman who changed who changed society and your life. Back in the day, birth control wasn't always legal. Many states actually criminalized the use of contraception. In 1961, Estelle Griswold, a resident in Connecticut, wasn't too happy with that, so she opened a Planned Parenthood clinic and handed out prescriptions for birth control in hopes of getting arrested and challenging the law.
And guess what—it worked! While being arrested isn't something that's normally praised, what happened next is definitely worthy of it. Estelle appealed her case all the way to the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut, and on June 7, 1965, the court ruled that state-level bans on birth control actually violated married couples' right to privacy. And that was the day that women everywhere were given the constitutional right to privacy when it came to birth control access and the use of it.
This weekend marked the 50th anniversary of this landmark decision, which makes it a perfect time to look back on how birth control has not only affected women's rights, but America as a whole.
In a special feature[1], Mashable noted that birth control and its advantages can often be taken for granted, but it has impacted your life in more ways than you could even imagine. Here are a few:
1. It helped narrow the wage gap— Sure, there are a lot of things wrong with the wage gap right now, and we aren't going to sugar coat that. Women earn on average $0.78 for every dollar a man earns. But, that number might be even higher if it weren't for birth control. Research[2] shows that the pill accounts for a 10 percent decrease in the gender gap during the 1980s and 30 percent in the 1990s.
2. Women have more highly skilled jobs now—Researchers[3] noticed that the number of women college graduates entering professional programs increased substantially just after 1970 (right after the pill became more diffused among young, single women.)
3. Women are more likely to complete college now—Access to birth control contributes to higher numbers of women enrolling in college and graduating with a degree, studies have shown[4].
4. Family planning improves children's lives—When a woman is able to plan when she gets pregnant, she's more likely to choose a time in her life when she's more mature and financially stable. This of course works out for the children in the long run. Research[5] has shown that those born after federal family planning programs began in the late 1960 were less likely to live in poverty.
So, whether you personally take birth control or not, you can see that the widespread use of it has had a positive effect on our country. And we have to say, "Cheers to that!"
Related:What We Can Learn From Kylie Jenner's Birth Control Convo With Her Mom[6]
The Unfortunate Reason Teens Aren't Using Birth Control[7]
Birth Control 101: All the Must-Know Facts About the Pill[8]
References
- ^ special feature (mashable.com)
- ^ Research (www.nber.org)
- ^ Researchers (dash.harvard.edu)
- ^ studies have shown (paa2006.princeton.edu)
- ^ Research (cesifo.oxfordjournals.org)
- ^ What We Can Learn From Kylie Jenner's Birth Control Convo With Her Mom (www.teenvogue.com)
- ^ The Unfortunate Reason Teens Aren't Using Birth Control (www.teenvogue.com)
- ^ Birth Control 101: All the Must-Know Facts About the Pill (www.teenvogue.com)
Source : http://www.teenvogue.com/my-life/2015-06/birth-control-and-society
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