Contraception

Expansion of testing, funded by NCMH, Clarence Gamble, et al.,  establishment of birth control programs in some of poorest regions of N. America, entering into agreement with drug companies to test their products, e.g., foam powder in N. Carolina and Puerto Rico, condoms in Appalachian Mountains, contraceptive jelly in W. Va., and, in the 19 50s, birth control pill in Kentucky and Puerto Rico. Their “emphasis on the simplicity of the method, moreover, meant both that research was driven by stereotypes about poor women and that it further reinforced those stereotypes. . . reduction of the birthrate, rather than the improvement of women’s health and self-determination, became the measure of success. In fact, the bias in favor of simpler birth control methods worked as a strong counterforce to the development of health and support services that might have increased women’s reproductive control” (Schoen, 30 ).