WS 100 Zine Timeline: The History of Women's Healthcare

Saartjie (Sarah) Baartman was a South African woman who was exploited by Europeans and displayed like an animal for her unusual genitals. She was not treated like a human, rather as property. When she died, a scientist took a cast of her body, pickled her genitals and brain, then sold them along with her skeleton to a museum in Paris. They were on display from 1815 all the way until they were asked to be removed in 1974. Baartman was finally repatriated and buried in South Africa in 2002.

Somerville, Siobhan. “Scientific Racism and the Emergence of the Homosexual Body.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 5, no. 2, 1994, pp. 243–266. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3704199. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female to get a medical degree in the US, went New York's Geneva Medical College. In school she was treated badly, forced to sit separately in class, was excluded from labs, and shunned. Despite all of that she graduated top in her class. Blackwell founded New York Infirmary for Women and Children, and opened the Women's Medical College in New York.

Michals, Debra. “Elizabeth Blackwell.” National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-blackwell.

The first birth control clinic in the US was established in Brownsville, Brooklyn by Margaret Sanger and her sisters. A little over a week after they opened it, the clinic was shut down by the police and she was charged for sharing birth control information and spent a month in jail. She later went on to found the American Birth Control League which eventually became Planned Parenthood.

Parenthood, Planned. “The History & Impact of Planned Parenthood.” Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history.

The birth control pill was approved by the FDA as an oral contraceptive in summer of 1960 and was a huge success. For the first time women were able to distinguish sex from procreation. The first brand of the pill, Enovid, was first marketed as a drug to keep periods regular with contraceptive side effects. It was not perfect, and the hormone levels in it were much higher than they needed to be, but it was massively popular as well as controversial.

“The Birth Control Pill: A History.” Plannedparenthood.org, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc, 2015, www.plannedparenthood.org/files/1514/3518/7100/Pill_History_FactSheet.pdf.

A group of women met during a “female liberation conference” at Emmanuel College and began discussing their experiences. They decided to collectively produce a book to educate women about their bodies and topics that were not being discussed openly at the time. It represented a big leap forward in the women's movement but especially in women's health.

Boston Women's Health Collective. “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” Ourbodiesourselves.org/, 1970, www.ourbodiesourselves.org/cms/assets/uploads/2014/04/Women-and-Their-Bodies-1970.pdf.

In the famous Roe vs. Wade case, abortion (during the first trimester) was legalized in the US. It was and still is to this day heavily controversial. The impact it had though freed a lot of women from unsafe and life-threatening illegal abortions, as well as from having babies as the result of sexual abuse, incest, rape, etc.

"The court declared that the choice to end a pregnancy in the first trimester was solely up to the woman. In the second trimester, the government could regulate abortion, although not ban it, in order to protect the mother’s health. In the third trimester, the state could prohibit abortion to protect a fetus that could survive on its own outside the womb, except when a woman’s health was in danger."

History.com Editors. “Roe v. Wade.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Mar. 2018, www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/roe-v-wade.

In 1977 a policy was enacted that banned women from clinical trials to protect them. However, factors like "body size, hormonal environment, and even body fat distribution can affect the way drugs are metabolized, ... [which] could potentially mean that life-saving drugs may not work, may not work as well, or may not work similarly, in women as they do in men." The inclusion of women in clinical trials once again in 1993 made drugs safer and more effective for women.

“Policy of Inclusion of Women in Clinical Trials.” Womenshealth.gov, 1 Apr. 2019, www.womenshealth.gov/30-achievements/04.

The FDA approved Plan B as an over the counter drug for women 18 and older in 2006. It is also commonly known as the "morning after pill," and it gave women a great deal of relief from unwanted pregnancy scares.

“FDA Approves Over-the-Counter Access For Plan B For Women 18 And Older.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 26 Aug. 2006, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060826223818.htm.

President Obama's Affordable Care Act in 2010 was a big step in healthcare for a lot of people, including women. It helped lower the cost of healthcare for women as well as improve the quality of care. Most notably, "annual mammograms and well-woman visits, birth control, and breastfeeding support" are all covered for free by the ACA.

“Affordable Care Act Improves Women's Health.” Womenshealth.gov, 1 Apr. 2019, www.womenshealth.gov/30-achievements/31.

Data from the 2019 CDC Vital Statistics Report shows the gap between black and white populations has been narrowing from 14.6 years in 1900 to 5.7 years in 1982 all the way to 3.5 years in 2017.

Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017.
National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7.
Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health
Statistics. 2019.