Modern hormonal birth control took off in 1960, when Enovid®, the first birth control pill, was marketed in the United States for the first time. Refinements of dosage and delivery systems led to introductions of lower dosage pills in the 1980s, along with a plethora of birth control options including the patch, the ring, and implantable hormonal birth control. However, the history of hormonal birth control is actually much older than people realize: the first form of hormonal birth control appears to have been a plant called silphion, which was used to prevent pregnancy as early as 700 BCE.

Little is known about silphion, because the plant appears to be extinct. Evidence from drawings and writings about the plant suggest that it was in the parsley family, and that it may have resembled giant fennel. The plant was also greatly valued, especially once its contraceptive properties were realized, and appears on coins and in frescoes. Alas, once the properties of silphion were realized, the plant was quickly overharvested, and all evidence suggests that it vanished by the first century AC. Almost 2000 years would pass before another form of hormonal birth control emerged.

The roots of modern hormonal birth control lie in Dioscorea mexicana, a type of Mexican yam. In 1944, researchers founded Syntex Laboratories to exploit the properties of this plant, which produced, among other things, progesterone. Research on the hormone indicated that it was effective at preventing pregnancy in rabbits, and in 1951 it was successfully synthesized. Tests for a hormonal birth control pill began only a few years later, and in 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approved Enovid® for sale.

When hormonal birth control was initially released, the side effects were quite severe, indicating that the dosage was too high. Tweaking the dosage yielded low dosage phased pills in the 1980s, and by 1990, the first implantable form of hormonal birth control, Norplant®, was on the market. Norplant® was followed in 1992 by Depo-Provera®, the birth control shot. Norplant® was later removed from the market for unknown reasons and replaced with Implanon®, another form of implantable birth control. Depo-Provera® is not recommended for long term use, as it depletes the bones of calcium.

In 1998, emergency contraception entered the market, and after 2000, several new forms of hormonal birth control were released including the birth control patch, a refined form of Depo-Provera®, and several insertable hormonal birth control devices including Nuva-Ring® and Mirena®. The introductions of different dosages and delivery methods has made birth control accessible to women leading a wide variety of lifestyles. You can discuss hormonal birth control with your doctor to determine the method that is right for you.