America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation Read Online Free PDF Page A

he had to scramble for funding, Pincus continued his research. Meanwhile, other scientists pur- sued investigations that would contribute to the development of the pill. Chemists Carl Djerassi and Russell Marker synthesized progesterone from a plant source, the Mexican yam. Although its contraceptive potential was not immediately evident, Pincus and his colleague Min-Chueh Chang tested the synthetic hormone, called progestin, for its ability to inhibit ovulation. 19
    At the Worcester Foundation, Pincus was experimenting with hormonal compounds with the hope of finding a treatment for infertility. Sanger first met Pincus through Dr. Abraham Stone, the director of her Research Bureau in New York. In 1951, Sanger granted Pincus $5,100 from PPFA to begin working on a hormonal contraceptive. Sanger then approached McCormick with a more ambitious plan to finance Pincus’s research specifi- cally to develop an oral contraceptive. McCormick liked what she saw at the Worcester facility and pledged to provide Pincus
    $10,000 per year. She herself had a scientific background, having studied biology at MIT, and personally oversaw the research as well as providing financial support. McCormick ended up con- tributing more than $2 million to the pill project over the years— the equivalent of about $12 million in year 2000 dollars. 20
    The collaborators brought to the project a tremendous faith in the possibility of science to solve the world’s problems and bring about a better future. One of the first women trained as a biologist, McCormick was both enthusiastic and impatient as she monitored every stage of research. As a nurse, Sanger had long believed that science held the key to contraception and to women’s emancipation. As early as the 1920s she had

    proclaimed, “Science must make woman the owner, the mis- tress of herself. Science, the only possible savior of mankind, must put it in the power of woman to decide for herself whether she will or will not become a mother.” Pincus, brash and confident, was full of optimism about the possibility of an oral contraceptive. As he set to work on the task, he announced to his wife, “Everything is possible in science.” 21 The flamboy- ant Djerassi claimed the pill’s invention for himself, as the title of his book, This Man’s Pill, makes clear. 22
    The combined efforts of these and other individuals working
    in various settings and capacities led to the discovery of the syn- thetic hormonal compound that suppressed ovulation. Pincus tested the compound on laboratory animals, but he couldn’t conduct any clinical trials on humans. For this, the collaborators turned to Harvard-trained obstetrician and gynecologist John Rock, who was the director of Brookline’s Reproductive Study Center. Rock and Pincus were both involved in research for treatments for infertility. Reproductive medicine was an expand- ing field in the 1950s. Infertile couples struggled in the midst of the baby boom, when it seemed as though everyone was procre- ating. Many clinical researchers who became involved in the development of the pill also sought cures for infertility. These physicians were interested in family planning. As one explained: “Every child should be a wanted child. Those who want them should be able to have them; those who don’t should be able to prevent them.” 23
    John Rock was among the physicians who worked on both fertility and contraception. Like Sanger and McCormick, Rock had a powerful independent streak that led him to defy

    religious, legal, and cultural taboos. The grandson of an Irish immigrant tailor and son of a liquor store owner, Rock grew up with a spirit of adventure and risk taking. In high school he won a scholarship to travel in South America, and he began his work life on a banana plantation in Guatemala. Rebelling against his boss in Guatemala and then against his father, who wanted him to become a businessman, Rock entered Harvard College and pursued a career in