My experience with contraception back in the late 1960's [View all]

[HockeyMom]

I made the decision to go on the Pill months before I ever decided to have sex. Not married, but living in NYC that would not be a problem? Not so, I was told by my female co-workers. It may be legal, but most MALE GYN's won't give contraceptives to unmarried women. Great. I was working at the time at the corporate headquarters of a pharmaceutical firm that actually manufactured the Pill, and covered it under their health plan for FREE. Ironic, huh? Employer would pay for it, but try to find a doctor to write a script for it. That p'od me to no end.

I kept asking and asking among all my female friends and acquaintances. A few recommended a female GYN who asked no moral questions, only medical ones.

So I went to see Dr. Anna H. Sitting in her waiting room, I looked at all her medical degrees on the walls, and then saw a picture of her graduating class. She was the ONLY female in her class of about 50 men, from a long time ago it appeared.

She came to the waiting room to greet me herself. Tiny woman in her 60s with a very thick German accent. Could not be sure, but she also had a Jewish sounding last name. Did she come to America during WW2? Did she escape? Did she come to America to become a doctor? While I did not ask any of these questions, I did comment to her on her graduation picture and being the only woman there. She was very willing, and did, talk about that and how difficult it was back then for women to get an advanced education, let alone go to medical school. A woman could not just be equal to the men in class, she had to be BETTER than the men to make it back in those days. I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that Dr. Anna was a Feminist!!! "Morality and Religion" was not going to stop her, or any other woman who came to her for their health care.

Dr. Anna took my medical history, gave me a physical, and handed me a script for contraception. No "moral" questions asked. As a young woman myself back then, kuddos on all levels to Dr. Anna.

Pass it on, older women, pass it on to the next generation.