Before Birth Control, What Was Used To Prevent Pregnancy? The Answer Is Weirdly Fascinating
By Elana Rubin
Every day before I go to sleep, I plop my little pill in my mouth to prevent any unwanted pregnancies. (Not like that's a huge concern as of late, but anyway.) Other options many people with vaginas use as birth control include condoms, an intrauterine device (IUD), implant, sponge, patch, shot, and vaginal ring. In our wonderfully scientifically advanced society, there's plenty of options to have sex and not get pregnant, and you can pick whichever one suits you best. But before birth control, what was used? How did people avoid getting pregnant then?
For this topic, I sought expert advice from Professor of History & Canada Research Chair in the Social History of Medicine Andrea Tone. She wrote Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America, which chronicles the creation of contraceptives from the 1870s to the 1970s.
https://www.elitedaily.com/p/before-birth-control-what-was-used-to-prevent-pregnancy-the-answer-is-weirdly-fascinating-8644656
