“Pregnancy and labour cause more deaths than oral contraceptives”: The debate on the pill in the Spanish press in the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract

From 1941 to 1978, Franco's regime in Spain banned all contraceptive methods. The pill started circulating in Spain from the 1960s, officially as a drug used in gynaecological therapy. However, in the following decade it was also increasingly used and prescribed as a contraceptive. This paper analyses debates about the contraceptive pill in the Spanish daily newspaper ABC and in two magazines, Blanco y Negro and Triunfo, in the 1960s and 1970s. It concludes that the debate on this contraceptive method was much more heterogeneous than might be expected given the Catholic-conservative character of the dictatorship. The daily press focused on the adverse effects of the drug and magazines concentrated on the ethical and religious aspects of the pill and discussed it in a generally positive light. Male doctors and Catholic authors dominated the debate.

Younger Age in Adolescent Pregnancies Is Associated with Higher Risk of Adverse Outcomes

“…Oral contraceptives are available in Spain from the 60's and its use is now generalized. Despite some debate about its adverse effects, its use is well accepted by the community [29]. In addition, the Spain health system has family planning units where the population can be well informed about its use.…”

The human autonomous karyotype and the origins of prenatal testing: Children, pregnant women and early Down's syndrome cytogenetics, Madrid 1962–1975

“…The meaning of "prophylaxis" here could only relate to either avoiding pregnancy or interrupting it. Contraceptives, however, were illegal, as was abortion in a number of European countries, including Spain (Nash, 1991;Ortiz-Gómez & Ignaciuk, 2013;Rodríguez Ocaña, Ignaciuk, & Ortiz-Gómez, 2012; Sánchez-Cascos, Morales, & Barreiro, 1964;Scanlon, 1986).…”

Investigar y comunicar la historia de la anticoncepción

“…Considerados como uno de los principales agentes en el cambio de las actitudes personales y sociales hacia la sexualidad y la anticoncepción, se ha estudiado la influencia de estos fármacos en la separación simbólica y práctica de sexualidad y procreación, en la implicación de las mujeres en la gestión de su cuerpo reproductivo y en la creciente medicalización de la salud de las mujeres (Watkins, 1998;Marks, 2001;Felitti, 2012;Pedro, 2004;Silies, 2015;Ignaciuk & Ortiz Gómez, 2016). La reproducción de valores de género en las publicaciones sobre la píldora en medios científicos y generales de comunicación, así como en la publicidad farmaceútica, ha sido un aspecto abordado por la historiografía de la anticoncepción más reciente (Molyneaux, 2011;Brockmann, 2009), incluida la referida a España (Ignaciuk, 2014, Ortiz & Ignaciuk, 2015Rodríguez Ocaña, Ignaciuk & Ortiz Gómez, 2012).…”