Monday, May 9, 1960: The Pill

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it would approve as safe for birth control an oral contraceptive for women. (Formal approval would follow on June 23.) Made by G.D. Searle & Co., the drug -- marketed as Enovid -- was a synthetic combination of hormones that suppresses the release of eggs from a woman's ovaries.

* Short summary: @

* Birth control timeline: @

* Time magazine coverage from 2010: @

* Photo gallery from Life magazine: @

* 1957 interview with birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger: @

* "The Case for Birth Control," 1924 article by Sanger: @

* How the Pill changed the way the FDA operates: @

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