Birth control pills in the 1960's?

Have you tried epocrates.com ? I hope you can find the information you need.

You can also try http://www.healthline.com/pillfinder

Riser, i called up my Nonna (grandmother) and she told me they did have it back then, but no one really used it or believed it in that much, Her being catholic, she or her mom didn’t use it cause it wasn’t considered pure in the eyes of the lord. I have some other people i will ask, cheers.

Wow, that’s really intense! You’re a good son for helping her with this. I’ll ask around and see if I can find anything out for you.

thank you guys. Iceblu, thank you for asking your grandmother about that.

I (and millions of other young women) took the common birthcontrol pills, know as The Pill, for about 9 months, sometime between 1965 and 68. They were small, round and white and had to be taken daily at the same time. I have no memory of a number stamped on them but that’s as may be. I stopped because the idiot male OB/GYN forgot to tell me that the pill would make the skin on my face photosensitive and I began to get brown spots.

The med. made periods very regular and were more powerful than those used today. And I think that they were available before 1965. I do know that one had to have a RX from a Dr. for a diaphragm in 1957; Drs. would only prescribe them for women about to marry or already married.

So sorry about your mom.

Here are some photos of “historic samples” from the Smithsonian. The thumbnails can be enlarged. Some of the pills seem to have something printed on them. Maybe a curator at the museum can help you and your mom w. the research.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/gallery/index.html

what about an unofficial abortion pill? Some kind of pill that the fetus couldn’t handle in a young mother’s system? Sorry, I know this is a modification of my original question but I started thinking there could be a difference.

I believe that that is a recent innovation. In my day, pre- Roe v. Wade (Jan. 1973), girls who got “caught,” and there were plenty of them either had to have the baby and give it up for adoption or find the back-alley illegal abortionists or fly to another country. What era are we talking about?

I had a baby sitter in 1960, or 1961 who had to spend her pregnancy in a horror house outside of Boston, called The Florence Crittendon Home For Unwed Mothers. My better- educated friends had abortions and they were NOT pleasant.

between 1960 to 1966

Does your mother think that she remembers taking a pill daily over the course of several years? And what about hypnotherapy? W. someone reputable, it can’t do any harm. Is the person she thinks abused her still alive and compos mentos? It is never too late for a confrontation – it takes preparation and support but we are talking about a really soul-destroying experience here.

BIrth control pills were prevalent in the time period you’re talking about. They seemed very wonderful at the time. As Gail notes, they were much stronger than they needed to be – they’ve refined them since then.
It would be odd to be taking them and not know it, because they came not in bottles but in little circular plastic dial-paks that allowed you to see whether you’d taken a given day’s pill or not. And they mostly came in two colors, one for 3 weeks of the month when you weren’t menstruating and one for the other week when your hormones had kind of reversed. (Or something like that. I never look anything up before I answer questions.) I do realize that if a girl were being made to take birth-control pills for someone else’s benefit, she might just be given the pill every day without ever seeing the packaging.
With regard to repressed memory: it’s been shown to be very, very rare. Hypnosis is a good idea, IF you shop around carefully and find someone really responsible, like a psychologist. But it won’t do magic. You and your ma shouldn’t be disappointed if not too much “comes back”. This is not to say bad things didn’t happen, or things that didn’t make any sense to a girl. I believe they did and I’m very sorry. Yes – you are a good son. Good luck.

I wish your mom finds closure and that you get the spiritual and mental will to fight by her side. A woman is always alone in this world and when someone earnestly lends a hand without asking for anything in return, the prayers that emanate from hearts can only be granted by God.