The Birth Control Pill Essays - Hormonal Contraception,

The Birth Control Pill The Birth Control Pill: The Pill with Many Issues Generations of women have lived with the task of controlling the childbearing process. In 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approved the birth control pill. The approval of the pill was a great event for women. The birth control pill not only prevents pregnancy, it also treats several feminine disorders. Before the birth control pill, many women turned to illegal or self-performed abortion. In 1973 abortion was made legal by the case of Roe Vs. Wade. These events have become a great privilege for women, but neither prevents A.I.D.S. or other diseases. In 1916, the birth control movement was established by a public health nurse name Margaret Sanger. Sanger opened up the first birth control clinic in New York. This clinic informed women about deciding to become mothers and when. It also provided education to women about existing birth control methods. The idea of a woman's right to control her own body and her own sexuality, gave a new outlook to family planning. Sanger recorded in her autobiography: ?Every day the little waiting room was crowded. Women came from the far end of Long Island (the press having the spread the word), from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. They came to learn the ?secret? which they thought was possessed by the rich and denied to the poor.? (Asbell 44) According to Bernard Asbell, the state of New York charged Sanger with illegal distribution of contraceptive information and forced Sanger to close the clinic (45). In 1951, Sanger and Katharine McCormick, an heir to the International Harvester fortune, wanted a simple and a more efficient form of a contraceptive. Sanger went to Gregory Pincus, a researcher at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, with their idea. Pincus had been receiving funds from the Planned Parenthood Federation to study mammalian egg, but it was not enough to develop a hormonal contraceptive (Asbell 59). It was an $180,000 contribution from McCormick that funded adequate research development for a hormonal contraceptive. By 1955, Pincus, a Harvard gynecologist named John Rock, and graduate student Min Chueh Chang had found a way to keep a woman from conceiving. The team of three came up with a progestogen pill that would keep a woman from ovulating; therefore she could not get pregnant. This pill was called the birth control pill and was approved by the Food and Drug administration in 1960. S. Snider reports that the birth control pill ?was a major medical achievement that rewrote the future of women and family life. For the first time in history, it became possible for a woman to safely and effectively control childbearing by taking a pill (4). Although the pill was a wonderful success, it wasn't long before health officials raised concerns about serious side affects. Fears of blood clots, heart attack, and stroke, caused exhaustive research on oral contraceptives in the 60's and 70's. The health risks are not as large due to the low-dose birth control pills on the market today (Snider 5). The birth control pill does not only prevent pregnancies, but it also helps control some diseases and other medical problems. Many women that have an irregular menstrual cycle take the pill to keep their cycle normal. The pill has also proven to help women who have endometriosis. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled case of Roe vs. Wade to legalized abortion. Since there has been health scares about the pill abortion has seem to become the other alternative to contraception. Some teenagers and women abuse abortion as a form of birth control. Many women have used abortions as a drastic form of contraception, due to carelessness or ignorance of better methods. In 1981, the virus acquired immune deficiency syndrome, better known as A.I.D.S. was identified. This virus weakens and breaks down the body's immune system making it almost impossible to fight off other viruses, infections and diseases. A.I.D.S. usually is caught by unprotected sex or drug use. The birth control pill will prevent a woman from conceiving; however the pill will not protect a woman from the A.I.D.S. virus. According to Jean Lawrence of the U.S. Center for Disease control and Prevention: ?Women whose partners use condoms to prevent A.I.D.S. and other sexually

Quotes from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Quotes from 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings' I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a famous book by Maya Angelou, is the first in a series of seven autobiographical novels. The book has been popular since it was first published in 1969. Oprah Winfrey, who read the novel when she was 15, said in a forward to the 2015 edition of the book, ... here was a story that finally spoke to the heart of me. These quotes show the searing journey Angelou traveled transforming from a victim of rape and racism into a self-possessed, dignified young woman.   Racism In the book, Angelous character, Maya, confronts the insidious effects of racism and segregation in America at a very young age, according to SparkNotes. Racism and bigotry are major themes in the novel, as the following quotes make clear. If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. - PrefaceI remember never believing that whites were really real. - Chapter 4They dont really hate us. They dont know us. How can they hate us?  - Chapter 25How maddening it was to have been born in a cotton field with aspirations of grandeur.  - Chapter 30 Religion and Morality Angelou- and her protagonist in the novel, Maya- was raised with a strong sense of religion, which serves as her moral guide, according to GradeSaver. And that sense of religion and morality permeate the novel. I knew that if a person truly wanted to avoid hell and brimstone, and being roasted forever in the devils fire, all she had to do was memorize Deuteronomy and follow its teaching, word for word. - Chapter 6See, you dont have to think about doing the right thing. If youre for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.  - Chapter 36 Language and Knowledge The description on the back cover of the 2015 edition of the novel, notes that the book captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make things right. Probably more than anything, it is the power of Angelous words- and her emphasis on understanding- that helped to shine a light on the harsh realities of bigotry and racism. Language is mans way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone that separates him from the lower animals. - Chapter 15All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market.​  - Chapter 28 Perseverance The novel covers the years from when Maya is 3 until she turns 15. Much of the book is about Mayas attempt to face bigotry and degradation. Finally, though, near the end of the novel she also sees the honor in surrendering- giving in- when necessary. Like most children, I thought if I could face the worst danger voluntarily, and triumph, I would forever have power over it.  - Chapter 2We are the victims of the worlds most comprehensive robbery. Life demands a balance. Its all right if we do a little robbing now.  - Chapter 29At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.  - Chapter 31 Fitting In In a parable for the novel- and the world around her- Maya wanders around town one night and decides to sleep in a car in a junkyard. The next morning she awakes to find a group of teenagers, composed of many races, living in the junkyard, where they get along well and are all good friends. I was never again to sense myself to solidly outside the pale of the human race. - Chapter 32 Sources Angelou, Maya, and Oprah Winfrey. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Ballantine Books, 2015. GradeSaver, â€Å"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Study Guide.† SparkNotes, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.