Some of Us Remember When Contraception Was Mostly Illegal [View all]

[MineralMan]

I do. In high school (Class of 1963), in California, condoms were illegal to sell to unmarried people under the age of 21. The Pill did not exist yet, and doctors could not prescribe diaphragms to any women who was under 21 or unmarried.

That's hard for most people to imagine now. You'd think high school kids in those days would have been very leery of having sex, just because of that. I can tell you that was not the case. In my small town high school class of about 100 kids, there were 10 girls I know of who got pregnant. Most went to "visit their aunt" somewhere. A few married the boy. I know of one girl, the daughter of the town mayor, who had an abortion, courtesy of one of the doctors in town who sometimes did that in certain cases. Ten percent of high school girls in my class.

Now, they weren't the only ones having sex with their boyfriends. Condoms were available if you had a friend over 21, or if you traveled to Arizona or Nevada, where they were sold in vending machine at every gas station. The so-called "rhythm method" was known to all of us, but that did require some attention being paid to "safe" times. Still only 10% of the girls in my class got pregnant, as far as I know. It could have been more.

Anyhow, the teen pregnancy rate was higher then than it is now. So, no access to contraception was not a very effective tool for protecting the "morals' of young folks.

Anyhow, by sometime in 1964 or 65, the pill became generally available. Condoms became legal to buy, even in California. The student health center at the state university I attended had a huge fishbowl full of condoms and female students were routinely prescribed the pill on request. Everyone relaxed a little after that.

Now, we may be heading for a time when contraception isn't so easily available. If the haters get their way, we'll be right back in the early 60s again. It's going to make a huge impact, since we're no longer used to that situation. Everyone will have to learn about the alternative methods all over again.

I'm concerned about this. If you're younger, you should be concerned about it, too.