Legalisation of Contraception Uk

The woman`s testimony highlights the difficulties she encountered in banning contraception; the impact it had on their marital relationship, the role of the Church in their reproductive choices, and their moral dilemma of taking the contraceptive pill. Although the woman interviewed did not explicitly condemn the priest for his comments, they illustrate her belief that family planning was her responsibility, while her remark about the “pill trial” shows that there was no guarantee that she would find a doctor to prescribe it. For this woman, taking the contraceptive pill was necessary to better improve her family situation. Such testimonies were not uncommon and were frequently used by supporters of the legalisation of contraception in Ireland. Women`s magazines of the 1960s and 1970s brought such cases to light. For example, a 1969 article in Woman`s Way magazine interviewed twenty-four-year-old Marie Monaghan and mother of six, with the youngest children being four-month-old triplets. Monaghan said: IFPA`s annual reports illustrate the spread of birth control pills as a method of family planning for IFPA patients in Dublin clinics. In 1972, for example, 47.1% of patients at IFPA`s Merrion Square Clinic and 48% at Mountjoy Square Clinic were prescribed oral contraceptives. In 1973, 57% of Merrion Square patients and 37% of Mountjoy Square patients were prescribed an oral contraceptive. By 1974 this share had increased to 66% in Synge Street (formerly Merrion Square) and 48% in Mountjoy Square, in 1976 to 68.25% in Synge Street and in 1976 to 59.16% in Mountjoy Square.

41 Contemporary newspaper articles suggest that the contraceptive pill was also easily prescribed by GPs in Ireland – this often involved doctors entering into a private agreement with patients. In 1968, Syntex Pharmaceuticals` chief marketing officer, Ronald Levin, stated that “the conversations we have had with the doctors of the Republic. whereas the majority of general practitioners in Ireland prescribe the pill for social reasons”. 42 A Dublin gynaecologist told journalist Mary Maher in March 1968 that “more and more GPs are prescribing it, and very few doctors would now refuse it to a woman who asks for it.” 43 Another pharmaceutical company representative said he believed 25% of Irish women taking the pill were using it for “medical reasons” and 75% for “social reasons”, with the company`s spokesperson joking: “Either that or there is a sharp increase in menstrual cramps”. 44 However, the spokesperson was quick to acknowledge that the company strictly adheres to Irish contraceptive legislation and that “pharmacists are equally strict about exact compliance with prescriptions”, stressing that “the vast majority of doctors are deeply concerned and very concerned by a decision by Rome”. 45 Humanae Vitae arrived at a crucial moment in the history of birth control – the issue of contraception had become the subject of heated debate, especially with the advent of the contraceptive pill in Europe from the early 1960s onwards. For many Catholics, it was hoped that the pope`s encyclical would represent a more relaxed approach to the issue of birth control; However, Humanae Vitae reiterated the Church`s views regarding the purpose of marriage and condemned all methods of artificial contraception. 46 This meant that “the large number of Catholics who had begun to practice birth control, sometimes with the moral support of their priests, now had to resume traditional teaching or ignore the papal declaration.” 47 And then, in college, what kind of methods would people have used [for contraception]? In the early days of contraception (which then as now meant mainly the pill), sympathetic doctors outside the Merrion Square Family Planning Clinic prescribed it without much knowledge of dosages. At least they never asked me about my health, my period, or my blood pressure. That`s why one day I almost fainted while riding a motorcycle around Stephens Green. That was in 1964 and this high-dose pill was later withdrawn. Years later, I found a combination of estrogen and progesterone that worked for me, and I used it successfully until I stopped getting pregnant.

117 1965: My son was 18 months old and I intended to leave my husband when I became pregnant on my 21st birthday, he was born in October of the same year. 1966: January – I went to the family planning clinic and was told I needed my husband`s written permission to use contraceptives. I was outraged, but I was told that he had the right to father as many babies as he wanted, even if I was the person who was going to give birth, etc. I was even more outraged, but I left with the form my husband was supposed to sign. My mother had accompanied me to the clinic and was just as outraged. She wiped away her tears and told me not to worry – we would just sign her name on the form ourselves. That`s what we did. I had no more babies and before Steven was 1 year old, I had left the marriage and divorced for “physical and mental cruelty”.

As a single mother, I raised my dear sons and trained as a teacher. Their father did nothing to support them and had no contact with them after Steven was 4 years old. I thank my lucky stars for giving me access to safe and affordable contraceptives. Without it, our lives would have been very different. Some of the respondents to Leane`s study also reported a priest in Cork City who was willing to give absolution to women taking the birth control pill.