Trials are under way in Britain for the first-ever male contraceptive pill. It’s a promising medication, one that puts more power in men’s hands to prevent unwanted pregnancy with high reliability and, so far, few reported side-effects. The trials seek to answer a basic medical question: is this drug safe and effective? But the manufacturers are no doubt wondering about something else: will men take it?
The overwhelming share of responsibility for preventing pregnancy has always fallen on women. Throughout human history, women have gone to great lengths to prevent pregnancies they didn’t want, and end those they couldn’t prevent. Safe and reliable contraceptive methods are, in the context of how long women have sought to interrupt conception, still incredibly new. Measured by the lifespan of anyone reading this article, though, they are well established, and have for many decades been a normal part of life for millions of women around the world.
