"The Pill" at 45.

Toronto -- The media, in particular Toronto's Globe and Mail, have seen fit to celebrate the coming of the contraceptive pill in Canada. "The Pill" was made legal in Canada in 1967 but it had been on the market since 1959. At first it was permitted for "menstrual disorders" only, not for birth control.

Testimony from women interviewed by the Globe confirmed again what was happening at the time; namely, that many doctors were amenable to prescribing it to married women for birth control purposes even though the law forbade it. After that they started giving the pill to single women and even to teenagers.

Globe writers think that the pill was a good thing. Columnist Margaret Wente (Apr. 10, 2004) incorporated a breathless account of her first pill prescription in 1967 into a screed describing how the pill, and the sexual revolution it facilitated, "has utterly transformed our lives and reshaped society." "The West," she said, "enjoys a level of personal freedom.., unparalleled in human history--because women can control their reproductive cycles."

Perhaps the most noteworthy and relevant of Ms. Wente's observations-whether a Freudian slip or not--came in her final sentence, "But the bang it (the pill) made was bigger than the atom bomb."

Despite the general tone of exhilaration, Ms. Wente seemed to stand back from a complete recommendation of the pill. Reproductive choice leading to career choice for women she saw as a good thing, but deleterious effects such as the decline of marriage and family numbers, the rise in divorce cases, and the change of perspective in marriage leading to same-sex unions, were noted with less enthusiasm. Also noted was that people feared that birth control would lead to widespread immorality, something we now know to be true. She somehow forgot to mention STDs and HIV/AIDS.

Globe Public Health reporter Andre Picard, in his plaudit of the pill's progress, felt impelled to mention that there were several serious side-effects connected to its use--this despite the lowering of estrogen levels. But, he concluded, "In most cases, the benefits of avoiding pregnancy far outweigh these risks."

He also mentioned that the contraception industry makes at least $300 million a year from these drugs (Globe and Mail, April, 6, 10, 2004).

One year ago, the National Cancer Institute issued a report on the pill and the risk of cancer. Due to the intense media coverage given to the questionable Women's Health Initiative results reported, this NCI study is helpful. (See NIC: http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/3_13.htm)