Debates on family planning and the contraceptive pill in the Irish magazine Woman’s Way, 1963–1973

Abstract

This article explores discussions of family planning and the contraceptive pill in the popular Irish women's magazine Woman's Way between 1963 and 1973. Contraception was criminalised in Ireland in 1935 and literature relating to birth control was banned under the 1929 Censorship of Publications Act. The contraceptive pill was marketed as a cycle regulator from 1963 until legalization in 1979. This article outlines how women accessed the contraceptive pill, the geographical and class inequalities around this access and how Woman's Way was an important vehicle for debates around the pill. The article assesses what discussions of the contraceptive pill can tell us about marriage dynamics, the role of sympathetic doctors, the power of the Catholic Church. Ultimately, it illustrates how the magazine was an important source of information on family planning for Irish women and how it also enabled women to air their views on the issue.In 1973, Irish magazine Woman's Way, published an article discussing the experiences of women living in fear of unplanned pregnancy from month to month. Joan, a twentyseven-year-old woman, was described as living in 'a state of constant fear of another pregnancy'. She explained to the journalist: It's one long worry. Another child would be disastrous because we just cannot afford it what with the high cost of living, not to mention being too busy to even think. Because of the fear of another pregnancy, we don't even sleep together. Consequently we are not living a normal married life, a natural life. It's as simple as that. 1 Joan's testimony was not atypical, and like many accounts published in the magazine in the 1960s and 1970s, provides an insight into the lived reality for many Irish women without legal access to contraception. For these women, lack of access to contraception meant considerable anxiety each month around falling pregnant, and placed a significant strain on marital relationships. Contraception was made illegal by the Irish government in 1935 with the introduction of the Criminal Law Amendment Act that forbade the import, sale, and advertisement of contraceptives, and it would not be legalized until 1979. 2

Relationship between the Characteristics and Knowledge of Birth Control Pill Acceptors and Adherence to Taking Birth Control Pills in the Work Area UPT. Barong Tongkok Health Center

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‘Please help me, I am so miserable!’: sexual health, emotions and counselling in teen and young adult problem pages in late 1980s Ireland

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