1550 B.C.An Egyptian manuscript called the Ebers Papyrus directs women on how to mix dates, acacia and honey into a paste, smear it over wool and use it as a pessary to prevent conception 1700sCasanova’s memoirs detail his experiments in birth control, from sheep-bladder condoms to the use of half a lemon as a makeshift cervical cap 1839Charles Goodyear invents the technology to vulcanize rubber and puts it to use manufacturing rubber condoms, intrauterine devices, douching syringes and “womb veils” 1873Congress passes an antiobscenity law that deems birth control info obscene and outlaws its dissemination. At the time, the U.S. is the only Western nation to criminalize contraception 1880sA large cervical cap is developed–an early version of the diaphragm 1916Margaret Sanger opens America’s first family-planning clinic, in Brooklyn. It is shut down within 10 days 1921Sanger founds the American Birth Control League, which later becomes the Planned Parenthood Federation of America 1930Anglican bishops approve limited use of birth control; Pope Pius XI affirms church teaching against contraception 1938A judge lifts the federal obscenity ban on birth control, but contraception remains illegal in most states 1951Prompted by Sanger, Gregory Pincus begins research on the use of hormones in contraception. In Mexico City, chemist Carl Djerassi creates a progesterone pill 1954John Rock, below, in collaboration with Pincus, bottom, conducts the first human Pill trial on 50 women in Massachusetts 1960In May, the FDA announces its approval of Enovid as a birth control pill
