May 9, 1960 - A Day The World Changed Forever - The FDA Approved "The Pill"

"The Pill" - The groundbreaking "oral contraceptive was approved by the FDA. It all began with hormones from an inedible Mexican yam (1960)"... And the World changed forever. A couple days later on May 11th, Searle received FDA approval to sell Enovid as a birth control pill. Searle was the first and only pharmaceutical company to sell an oral contraceptive. It was a lucrative monopoly

A year later in 1961, "Thalidomide, a sedative given to pregnant women in Europe to control morning sickness broke in to the news when it was found to cause horrible birth defects. All wonder drugs, including "the Pill," lost a lot of acceptance as Americans begain to question the safety of these new drugs. After the Thalidomide tragedy, the FDA enacted stricter regulations for human drug tests."

It took a few years to be widely accepted at The University of Georgia but it was an amazing time to be in college and have the wonderful 'World of Women' change before your eyes (literally). I have no statistics to back it up but I would guess that the majority of the students entering The University of Georgia were virgins out of high school, including me. We had a couple girls pregnant at high school graduation but it was unusual - They didn't have the "freedom" of the Pill which hadn't made it down to that level at all in The South; or wide spread use condoms for that matter.

The fun part of it was that the "girls" at Georgia on those first high dose pills gained about 20 pounds immediately and became curvy "women" with big boobs. That result was applauded by every 18 year old man on campus. Good or bad? I don't know ... It just is ... Life is a net sum game ... for every good thing you have to give up something good. And so it goes ...