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Article: Birth Control Movement
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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BIRTH CONTROL MOVEMENT
BIRTH CONTROL MOVEMENT.
A birth control movement did not exist in the United States in the nineteenth century; still, the birth rate steadily declined from 1800. Women prevented conception by a number of different methods
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abstinence, breastfeeding for long periods, male withdrawal before ejaculation, douching with common ingredients, abortifacients such as penny royal, condoms made from linen or animal intestines, and homemade sponges.
Reformers advocated various forms of birth control beginning in the 1830s. The 1830s and 1840s were a period when Americans were receptive to experimental ideas. In 1831 Robert Dale Owen, son of utopian socialist Robert ...