Despite the availability of various family planning tools, worldwide 121 million unintended pregnancies occur every year, or 331,000 per day on average, revealing striking disparities in contraceptive provision and accessibility.
In ancient Greek mythology, Minos, the king of Crete, tried to rape the goddess Britomartis. When his wife Pasiphae learned about this, she cursed Minos to ejaculate snakes, scorpions, and centipedes – in other words, a death sentence for those he had intercourse with. To avoid deadly semen filled with fauna, using a bladder of a goat was introduced.
This is the first story that documents something close to modern condoms, according to the story of the condom published in the National Library of Medicine. Ancestors of modern condoms were made of animal intestines, plant fibres or silk sheaths.
Condoms are one of the oldest tools for family planning, having been produced on a large scale since the end of the 19th century. In the decades and centuries that followed, birth control options did – mercifully – expand beyond animal bladders.
In 2020, the birth control pill celebrated its 60th birthday. The development of modern contraceptive methods has continued, with hormonal implants and patches, vaginal rings, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and emergency contraceptives.
Family planning methods give women control over when – if ever – they bring a child into the world.
“The relationship between reproductive autonomy and healthier lives is an uncontested truth: as women are empowered to make choices about their bodies and lives, they and their families thrive — and their societies thrive as well,” said Natalia Kanem, executive director of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in their recently released annual report on the State of World Population.
An estimated 44% of partnered women are unable to make decisions over health care, sex or contraception, the report’s data from 68 countries worldwide shows, adding that almost half of all pregnancies are unintended.
According to Kanem, this shows that women are still deprived of their bodily autonomy despite the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development expressly acknowledging that sexual and reproductive health and gender equality are essential for unlocking a more prosperous and sustainable future.
Kanem condemned women’s limited access to reproductive healthcare, describing it as “an abrogation of women’s basic human right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children”.
